Palo Duro State Park
Visited Palo Duro Canyon State Park last weekend! The weather was absolutely perfect to explore this beautiful park.
We arrived at our AirBnb around 3pm Saturday and decided to go ahead and check out the park in the few hours we had before sunset. Approaching the park, I found myself having difficulty picturing a canyon here-- the surrounding terrain is so flat!
We decided to tackle the CCC trail that afternoon. It is rated “difficult” on the Texas Parks and Wildlife map. It only 1.4 miles each way, but has a significant elevation change. It turns out this is the trail the CCC workers would use while they were building the road into the canyon.
We debated which side of the trail to start on and decided it would be better to go uphil first. It was a workout!
The trail ends at the CCC overlook, which near the El Coronado Lodge (i.e., visitors center), so we stopped in and read some history of the park before heading back down.
There were some amazing views along the way.
Sunday was our big hiking day. Our goal was to see the most famous feature of the park– the Lighthouse!
We started out on the Givens, Spicer, Lowry Trail This was also rated difficult by the Texas Parks and Wildlife service, but I’m not really sure why. It was a little rocky in places, but no major elevation changes.
We took a little excursion on the Little Fox Canyon trail. Both of these trails are on the canyon floor, so you get amazing views of the surrounding rock faces:
The GSL trail intersects with the Lighthouse trail. The Lighthouse Trail was much more trafficked and easier/flatter than GSL– at least up until the end!
There are two trails to approach the Lighthouse. One is supposedly easier than the other, so we chose the “more difficult” way. I had been warned that the end involved “a bit of a scramble,” but was a little surprised at how steep it was! You definitely have to use your hands to pull yourself up in some places. It was super fun!
The view from up there was pretty great too! It was cool to see the trails we’d just traversed:
After that we went back on the Lighthouse Trail, then made our way back to the car on the Paseo del Rio trail, which, true to its name, passes by the only water we saw in the park.
All in all, we did about 10 miles, which was personally my longest hike. It was sooo worth it!
After that we went to the Wolfberry Camp Area for “lunch” (it was 4pm!). There we met a roadrunner who was aggressively interested in our food:
In summary, a few observations/notes:
Going out on the GSL trail was definitely the way to go; it is a lot more interesting that the beginning of the Lighthouse trail (although both have the same gorgeous views!)
The temperature was in the upper 70s that afternoon; and it was becoming HOT. For some reason, many of the water fountains were turned off; so make sure to bring plenty of water!
Although we had brought our own food, I was surprised that there is a store that sells food (including ice cream!) near the Hackberry camp area
The El Coronado Lodge is worth visiting if you’re interested in geology, fossils, history at all