Palo Duro Canyon

Welcome to the Leverguns.Com Forum. This is a high-class place so act respectable. We discuss most anything here ... politely.

Moderators: AmBraCol, Hobie

Forum rules
Welcome to the Leverguns.Com General Discussions Forum. This is a high-class place so act respectable. We discuss most anything here other than politics... politely.

Please post political post in the new Politics forum.
Post Reply
piller
Posting leader...
Posts: 15188
Joined: Sat Sep 29, 2007 9:49 pm
Location: South of Dallas

Palo Duro Canyon

Post by piller »

My wife and I just got back from spending a few days in the Palo Duro Canyon. It is 30 minutes from Amarillo Texas in the Panhandle. As the Second largest canyon in the U.S., it is also worth a visit. The paved road runs all the way to the bottom, and there hiking trails all over. Got a horse? Take it and ride the horse only trails. Want to stay in a cabin on the rim? There are a couple of cabins built by the WPA which can be rented. Better book way in advance since they are highly desired. Want to stay in your trailer? Lots of hookups for your trailer, and there is a dump station in the canyon. No, it is not primitive, but it is pretty close to back to nature if you want it. There is also an amphitheater where a musical play is performed. It gives sort of a picture of the settling of Texas.

We had a good time, and walked a lot. It was hot, about 97 to 99 degrees. At the Bar-b-cue meal before the show, we shared a picnic table with an Australian who came in 44th at that world cup shooting match held in the same city this year as where the Bianchi cup is held.

It is worth a try. I recommend the Palo Duro for a visit with kids. Take lots of water and go hike in a piece of the Old West.
D. Brian Casady
Quid Llatine Dictum Sit, Altum Viditur.
Advanced is being able to do the basics while your leg is on fire---Bill Jeans
Don't ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up---Robert Frost
Nate Kiowa Jones
Site Sponsor
Posts: 2507
Joined: Fri Sep 07, 2007 12:05 pm
Location: Lampasas, Texas
Contact:

Re: Palo Duro Canyon

Post by Nate Kiowa Jones »

piller wrote: Wed Jun 13, 2018 11:33 pm My wife and I just got back from spending a few days in the Palo Duro Canyon. It is 30 minutes from Amarillo Texas in the Panhandle. As the Second largest canyon in the U.S., it is also worth a visit. The paved road runs all the way to the bottom, and there hiking trails all over. Got a horse? Take it and ride the horse only trails. Want to stay in a cabin on the rim? There are a couple of cabins built by the WPA which can be rented. Better book way in advance since they are highly desired. Want to stay in your trailer? Lots of hookups for your trailer, and there is a dump station in the canyon. No, it is not primitive, but it is pretty close to back to nature if you want it. There is also an amphitheater where a musical play is performed. It gives sort of a picture of the settling of Texas.

We had a good time, and walked a lot. It was hot, about 97 to 99 degrees. At the Bar-b-cue meal before the show, we shared a picnic table with an Australian who came in 44th at that world cup shooting match held in the same city this year as where the Bianchi cup is held.

It is worth a try. I recommend the Palo Duro for a visit with kids. Take lots of water and go hike in a piece of the Old West.

A really unique experience. I've seen the show three time now.
Steve Young aka Nate Kiowa Jones Sass# 6765

Steve's Guns aka "Rossi 92 Specialists"
205 Antler lane
Lampasas, Texas 76550


http://www.stevesgunz.com

Email; steve@stevesgunz.com

Tel: 512-564-1015

Image
piller
Posting leader...
Posts: 15188
Joined: Sat Sep 29, 2007 9:49 pm
Location: South of Dallas

Re: Palo Duro Canyon

Post by piller »

Nate, PillHer wants to go back next year and see it again. She grew up on that sort of musical/play, and she loved it. Not many plays honor the State Flag as well as the American Flag.
D. Brian Casady
Quid Llatine Dictum Sit, Altum Viditur.
Advanced is being able to do the basics while your leg is on fire---Bill Jeans
Don't ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up---Robert Frost
User avatar
Pitchy
Advanced Levergunner
Posts: 13136
Joined: Tue Mar 01, 2011 9:15 am
Location: Minnesooooota

Re: Palo Duro Canyon

Post by Pitchy »

Great place, Norma and I stayed there three days in the van a couple years ago. :)
Did ya see that little ranch on the right just before ya get to the pay station that`s half hanging over the rim, I still can`t figure out how they built over the edge.
Cool place indeed. 8)
Because I Can, and Have
-------------------------------------------------------------
USAF-72-76
God Bless America.
Disclaimer, not responsible for anyone copying or building anything i make.
Always consult an expert first.
twobit
Levergunner 2.0
Posts: 237
Joined: Mon May 24, 2010 10:35 pm
Location: Houston, Texas

Re: Palo Duro Canyon

Post by twobit »

We have visited a couple of times and it is a wonderful destination.

Michael
Image
Michael Puzio
Winchester Model 1892 Collector, Research & Valuations
.45colt
Advanced Levergunner
Posts: 4719
Joined: Fri Sep 07, 2007 5:00 am
Location: North Coast of America-Ohio

Re: Palo Duro Canyon

Post by .45colt »

Good to know about, We may be getting to Texas sometime in retirement. another terrific canyon to visit is Canyon de chelly in Arizona .We spent some time there before going to Monument Valley . https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/ ... fr=yfp-t-s
Stevie
Levergunner 2.0
Posts: 134
Joined: Sun Jul 23, 2017 2:47 pm

Re: Palo Duro Canyon

Post by Stevie »

Yeh….The Palo Duro canyon is a pretty decent area for a vacation stop. The Panhandle Plains museum in Canyon(City of) is an excellent place to kill a few hours. There is a small but growing aviation museum in Amarillo...plus a zoo....and several other museums worthy of a visit. The 'Cadillac Ranch' is west of Amarillo a couple miles if you like to spray paint on old cars sticking out of the middle of a sorghum field...


I've found that motel rooms are easier and cheaper to book in Amarillo than in the city of Canyon...Lots of things to see in the Amarillo/Canyon Texas area
User avatar
crs
Advanced Levergunner
Posts: 3153
Joined: Thu Sep 06, 2007 10:32 am
Location: Republic of Texas
Contact:

Re: Palo Duro Canyon

Post by crs »

My family spent a couple nights there as the first stop on a multi day vacation in a rented motor home.

We liked the horseback rides and the show with the simulated thunderstorm lightening, but the real show came around midnight in the form of a REAL Panhandle lightening storm and heavy rain that threatened to flood the canyon bottom stream where we were camped.
I was raised in Borger about 60 mi north of the canyon and the real storm that night was a doozy.

Driving out of the canyon was a b... h, as the motor home ran fine on level ground but lousy going uphill.
How we made it out through northern New Mexico and back was a wonder.
CRS, NRA Benefactor Member, TSRA, DRSS, DWWC, Whittington Center
Android Ballistics App at http://www.xplat.net/
piller
Posting leader...
Posts: 15188
Joined: Sat Sep 29, 2007 9:49 pm
Location: South of Dallas

Re: Palo Duro Canyon

Post by piller »

We stopped at the Cadillac Ranch. PillHer wasn't impressed. I thought it was cool that someone left cans of spray paint there daily for anyone to paint whatever they wanted.

There was a thunderstorm while we were there. Growing up on the upper end of the Llano Estacado, thunderstorms are still worth paying attention to.

My Dad left a lot of buried magnesium anodes in the Borger, Dumas, Canadian, Dalhart, Perryton area while working for Panhandle Eastern. He worked corrosion control on the well heads. His Mentor was Waldo Graber, one of the pioneers in cathodic protection for oil and natural gas wells.

We stayed in Amarillo. It was cheaper for the same level of hotel.

That ranch on the right which sits on the rim of the canyon is still there. It has zipline rides and both horse and jeep tours now.

PillHer thought it was too dry out there. She said she didn't want to live there.
D. Brian Casady
Quid Llatine Dictum Sit, Altum Viditur.
Advanced is being able to do the basics while your leg is on fire---Bill Jeans
Don't ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up---Robert Frost
User avatar
crs
Advanced Levergunner
Posts: 3153
Joined: Thu Sep 06, 2007 10:32 am
Location: Republic of Texas
Contact:

Re: Palo Duro Canyon

Post by crs »

"PillHer thought it was too dry out there. She said she didn't want to live there."

One of the reasons that I moved south, to see more trees.
CRS, NRA Benefactor Member, TSRA, DRSS, DWWC, Whittington Center
Android Ballistics App at http://www.xplat.net/
Bill in Oregon
Advanced Levergunner
Posts: 8846
Joined: Sun Jun 29, 2008 10:05 am
Location: Sweetwater, TX

Re: Palo Duro Canyon

Post by Bill in Oregon »

This is very high on my list -- maybe this fall. I have been to the Panhandle Plains Museum in Canyon with my daughter maybe 20 years ago. Loved it.
Charles, my grandmother grew up on her father's ranch in Plemmons -- now vanished -- across the Canadian from Borger and just upstream from the Dixon ranch. Her papa, Champion Travis Traylor, was a rancher and schoolteacher and served a term as a judge in Hutchinson County in the late Teens or early Twenties. He sold the ranch to his daughter Cora and son-in-law Mannie Brazil and retired to Denver.
I'll probably re-read "Empire of the Summer Moon" again before visiting Palo Duro.
Here's Ellie on that Panhandle visit about 20 years ago -- at the site of the Battle of the Adobe Walls on the Turkey Track Ranch. Very fond memories.

Image
User avatar
crs
Advanced Levergunner
Posts: 3153
Joined: Thu Sep 06, 2007 10:32 am
Location: Republic of Texas
Contact:

Re: Palo Duro Canyon

Post by crs »

Nice picture- is that a tree there inside the fence? Could be 50 years old with the dry country all around.
At least it is not a mesquite tree.
When you are back in the area, a visit to Palo Duro Canyon should be on your agenda.
CRS, NRA Benefactor Member, TSRA, DRSS, DWWC, Whittington Center
Android Ballistics App at http://www.xplat.net/
Bill in Oregon
Advanced Levergunner
Posts: 8846
Joined: Sun Jun 29, 2008 10:05 am
Location: Sweetwater, TX

Re: Palo Duro Canyon

Post by Bill in Oregon »

Charles, don't worry -- it's on my agenda. Wonder if there is any hog hunting up in that country.
User avatar
Pitchy
Advanced Levergunner
Posts: 13136
Joined: Tue Mar 01, 2011 9:15 am
Location: Minnesooooota

Re: Palo Duro Canyon

Post by Pitchy »

We went too Adobe Walls sight also , long drive in on a dirt road huh Bill thought we were going to run out of gas.
I have pictures of both places but they're on good ole PB and can`t post them. :roll:
Because I Can, and Have
-------------------------------------------------------------
USAF-72-76
God Bless America.
Disclaimer, not responsible for anyone copying or building anything i make.
Always consult an expert first.
User avatar
Blaine
Posting leader...
Posts: 30495
Joined: Mon Dec 17, 2007 2:22 pm
Location: Still Deciding

Re: Palo Duro Canyon

Post by Blaine »

I've driven through the area and noted it's a beautiful place.
I should have my new Alaskan Camper pretty soon and everytime I can round up some gas money I want to go see some more of my Great Country and some friends as long as I can manage it.
The Rotten Fruit Always Hits The Ground First

Proud Life Member Of:
NRA
Second Amendment Foundation
Citizens Committee For The Right To Keep And Bear Arms
DAV
User avatar
jeepnik
Advanced Levergunner
Posts: 6830
Joined: Sun Apr 08, 2007 1:39 pm
Location: On the Beach

Re: Palo Duro Canyon

Post by jeepnik »

I have to admit to never having been there. Retirement looms, something to add to the list.
Jeepnik AKA "Old Eyes"
"Go low, go slow and preferably in the dark" The old Sarge (he was maybe 24.
"Freedom is never more that a generation from extinction" Ronald Reagan
"Every man should have at least one good rifle and know how to use it" Dad
User avatar
crs
Advanced Levergunner
Posts: 3153
Joined: Thu Sep 06, 2007 10:32 am
Location: Republic of Texas
Contact:

Re: Palo Duro Canyon

Post by crs »

bill,
Aoudad and mule deer, but it may be a bit dry for feral hogs.
CRS, NRA Benefactor Member, TSRA, DRSS, DWWC, Whittington Center
Android Ballistics App at http://www.xplat.net/
Post Reply