Caprock Canyons State Park
On July 4th weekend we drove to Caprock Canyons and arrived at our campsite on Lake Theo in the afternoon.
Fair warning, these are not walk up sites. The parking lot sits above and it's a bit of a walk down to the lake, so pack accordingly! Also, the sites are very close together and aren't as private as advertised. If this isn't for you, I recommend reserving at the Honey Flat area instead.
Despite those surprises, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay. The tent was cool at night with the wind through the adjacent trees not only providing a great breeze but also a soothing noise of the leaves rustling. We set up our hammock and our portable shower in the shelter, which helped keep us cool and was very relaxing in the afternoons!
Bison, not buffalo, roam throughout the park and we were greeted several times by them along the road. We also saw them in the lake on our way to hike one morning!
On our second day at Caprock Canyons, we got up with the sun and were on the trail by 8 to beat the heat. We did a ~7 mile loop along the North Prong and John Haynes Ridge areas going counter clockwise from the parking lot.
The North Prong Spur trail took us through the canyon amidst the beautiful red rock in the morning sun. It was fairly flat and a good warm up for the rest of the hike.
When we took a left onto the Upper North Prong Trail, we were guided by flies all the way up to Fern Cave (Points of Interest #1), so beware of that! Not sure if it was the weather/time of year or the fact we were traversing a river the entire way. Besides that, there is great scenery on both sides of this trail including cool rock formations like a Hoodoo (Points of Interest #2)
Once we got to Fern Cave, we were relieved of the flies as we ascended. We continued to climb until we reached the Haynes Ridge Overlook Trail. Sweeping and breathtaking views of canyons greeted us on both sides. This trail was pretty flat, comparatively, until the end where we hiked down the canyon to rejoin the North Prong Spur trail. We're glad we saved that for last! It's very steep.
This was definitely my favorite hike because of the scenery - we hiked through, up, and down the canyons. On the way down we saw a unique teal lizard hiding in the shade!
On our third day at Caprock Canyons, we hiked the Eagle Point Trail which is a ~4 mile hike there and back. The first pic in this series is a view of the overlook right behind the trail marker.
The hike itself was pretty moderate and took us to the other side of the park. The red rock is beautiful and you can really immerse yourself as you hike through the canyon. You can see Eagle Point in the distance almost the entire journey there.
The Natural Bridge (Point of Interest #3) is just before the end of the trail. There is a bench but the sign doesn't explicitly say that it's the Natural Bridge. On our way back we stopped by it again and tried to find the trail, but it looked like our only option was to jump down the canyon. So we took a picture from across the way and made our way back to the car.
Our 3rd hike at Caprock Canyons was a shorter ~2 mile loop of the Canyon Rim Trail and the Canyon Rim Spur Trail.
This loop starts and ends at the Honey Flat Prairie Dog Town (Points of Interest #6), one of our highlights of the trip. Yes, there is a field of prairie dogs popping their heads out of their burrows. It was fun to watch them eat, fight, and warn each other that we were passing through.
The hike itself was pretty flat and easy, with beautiful views of the Holmes Creek Canyon (Points of Interest #7) all along the Canyon Rim Trail.
At the end of the hike, we were met with a big group of bison chilling in the Honey Flat area, including in the road. There was a line of cars waiting for them to pass when they were ready. We saw one drinking from the lake.
