Palo Duro Canyon, Texas

OK...I left Abilene State Park about 0830....it was a great early morning sunrise....I was so in awe I forgot to take any photo's.....Hey, I'm a "senior citizen"....get over it!!!!!...Traveled west on I-20 until Sweetwater Texas,(known as the rattlesnake capital of the USA) and then headed north on Hiway 84....and boy between Sweetwater and Lubbock there isn't much as far as scenery...couldn't even find a "road kill"........from Lubbock to Canyon Texas was all on interstate 27.....going 55mph gets you a lot of angry looks and sometimes a "hand signal" of sorts.....oh bother....I decide since its getting late and I really don't know where I'm going... that I won't try to venture to the Palo Duro TSP campground and instead go to a commerical site about 10 miles from the park...so happened it is called Palo Duro RV park..how cleaver......it's nothing to write home about, but it has numerous perks, other than the "wow" factor..but its close to places I want to visit, and that's what's important.....

Last night it got down in the 50's and by morning my throat was sore, I was coughing and felt like I needed a "do over"...my version of lets start this day over....which I did...and it worked....

So I was off for Palo Duro Canyon a little after nine......my goal was to do some hikes with the main event being the six mile round trip "Lighthouse Trail" hike......trying out my new "trekking poles" my knee doctor recommended I use after the surgery......not as easy to use as I thought.....but then I always had trouble chewing gum and walking at the same time.....just watch my golf swing sometime...not a pretty picture...

You enter at the top of the Canyon and don't really have the same type of views  and sense of awe as one has at the Grand Canyon or Canyon de Chelly ......as you descend down the Canyon, you have a lot of pull offs with good views and some nice photo ops.....the sky was not as clear as my might expect...I lot of wind kicking up sand....I did the road tour which is a ring around the base of the Canyon....with all my stops it took me about 3+ hours..then off to do some hikes that would present some photo ops.....I was disappointed and frustrated...there are 4 groups of folks that use the trail, runners, hikers, bikers, and folks on horses...the trails themselves are not that wide and numerous places have washed out sections...on what I encountered, the mountain bikers and horseback folks out number the runners and hikers by a wide margin.....and the bikers can get up to speeds in excess 0f 30 miles an hour....which made my hike more of an  "obstacle course" then a hiking trail...it would have been a more relaxing hike if there was someway that they could have had a split trail system.....

Since the day not yet over, I decided to go and find the "Cadillac Ranch"...this where the fellow put about ten Cadillac's in the ground...story has it that he bought one from a dealer, took it back as it wasn't working and wanted another one, dealer said no ....so the guy said "hell", I'll buy all your cadillac's and "bury" them...you SOB...and he did, hehe...

All in all it was a fun day.....tomorrow I plan on going south to Caprock Canyon....hopefully I'll feel better...I'm only alloted a few "do overs"....ok, I'm going to try and post a couple photo's......don't hold me accountable if it doesn't work...you know I'm old......

Cadillac Ranch-photograph by Horst Kelly

Lighthouse-photograph by Horst Kelly

Camp Ground-sunset-photograph by Horst Kelly