Palo Duro State Park

Our goal today was to spend the afternoon at Pablo Duro Canyon State Park south of Abilene TX. The canyon is reported to be the second largest in the US and a favorite of Texans.

The drive east was through remarkably flat land filled with black cows grazing in beige grassy ranges, stock ponds filled with water, and windmills. We had a tailwind most of the day and plenty of sun and blue skies. At one point tumbleweed was bouncing along and across the road.

We arrived at Palo Duro Canyon State Park to find a moderately long line to enter. This is a very popular park and it is spring break for many schools. We encountered family groups as well as scout groups spending the day in the park. After a quick lunch we drove the park road stopping at times for pictures, then we decided to walk the Rock Garden Trail, a little more than one-mile pleasant walk up through a rock slide of enormous boulders. Lovely, with good views of the canyon below.

Because we made up our mind to visit this park at the last minute, we were unable to spend the night at the park and spent the night in Canyon TX. We definitely will plan ahead next time to spend more time here so we can walk more of the extensive trail system.

-- Janet (text) and David (photos)