Palo Duro Caynon State Park

[Pitchy]

If ya get south of Amarillo TX there is a SP in the bottom of the second largest caynon in the US.
Ya drive down a 10 percent grade too the bottom where the park is, we stayed there a couple days, the rock formations are beautiful.

















There were some friendly deer there also.

[gamekeeper]

Great country! even the deer are friendly....

[bdhold]

have made Palo Duro a sleepover stop on many trips to NM and CO.
Our last trip, though, we stopped at Caprock Canyons SP and had a very good campout, though not quite as scenic as Palo Duro.

the cool thing in Caprock Canyons was the tame roadrunners

[Borregos]

Great pictures Pitchy, thanks for posting

[KiwiKev]

Wow, quite amazing!

Great photographs.

[Pitchy]

Your welcome, it was a great trip and met some good people.

[bdhold]

you're not planning to winter at South Padre?

[Pitchy]

At this point and time we don`t know where we are going, trying to find some place where people have good sense but I fear there is no such place.

[bdhold]

why do you think you'd fit in?

[Pitchy]

I guess I don`t

[wecsoger]

Is that what they call "Sunday Canyon"?

In late '70's I helped a friend move out there. Only had a couple days downtime before I had to come back home but I remember going to a very scenic area like that one. Of course, there was a lot of good tex-mex food and coors, so the memory is a little fuzzy. (grin)

Great area, I'd like to go back sometime. So far my stints in Tejas have been Dallas, Waco area and made it over to Abilene for a week.

[PriseDeFer]

Good photo of the roadrunner doing what they do best. And of the creek, very important place in that country I expect. Thanks.

[bdhold]

the creek in Palo Duro is the headwaters of the Canadian River, a tributary of the Red - it's what makes it red.

[Lassiter]

Lots of history in Palo Duro Canyon. The Comanche Indians made great use of the canyon in the 1800s. Beautiful country!!

[M. M. Wright]

Pitchy I'll bet you could just set up housekeepin' in that dugout. I'd live in one myself if it were just me but my better half would probly object. They do hold the heat and cool well and are a great place to be if there's a tornado.

[Mike Armstrong]

Bulldog, I love your pix of ol' Sr. Paisano in neutral and overdrive. That's a bird that always brings a grin to my face. My wife almost shot one in AZ; thought it was a quail... Kinda stringy eatin', I suspect.

Anybody doesn't believe birds are related to dinosaurs should watch a roadrunner go about his business for a while. And if dinosaurs were that fast and smart, I'm very glad they have gone the way of the....you know.

[Cast Bullet Hunter]

But do you know the historic significance of Palo Duro Canyon? Lassiter alluded to it.

[Lassiter]

In Sept. of 1874 Col. Ranald Mackenzie and troops of the 4th US Cavalry discovered where several camps of the southern plains Indian tribes were camped in Palo Duro Canyon. They were able to defeat the tribes and capture about 1400 horses and most of the Indians winter supplies. Losses on both sides were very low but the loss of the supplies and horses effectively ended the Red River War.

I love Texas history. I'm a misplaced native Texican...............

[Pitchy]

In Sept. of 1874 Col. Ranald Mackenzie and troops of the 4th US Cavalry discovered where several camps of the southern plains Indian tribes were camped in Palo Duro Canyon. They were able to defeat the tribes and capture about 1400 horses and most of the Indians winter supplies. Losses on both sides were very low but the loss of the supplies and horses effectively ended the Red River War.

I love Texas history. I'm a misplaced native Texican...............

Yep I remember reading the markers about that, thanks for the added input fellers.

[Nate Kiowa Jones]

Hi Pitchy,
You probably weren't there for the Show "TEXAS" but if you get back it runs June to mid August. It is well worth it.
It's an outdoor show set against the canyon wall with over 60 performer. Though mostly fictional it tells the stories, struggles and triumphs of the settlers of the Texas Panhandle in the 1800s. If you come early they serve an open air chuck wagon dinner. I've been 3 times and still want to go back.

[Pitchy]

Say now that sounds pretty cool.

[GoatGuy]

In Sept. of 1874 Col. Ranald Mackenzie and troops of the 4th US Cavalry discovered where several camps of the southern plains Indian tribes were camped in Palo Duro Canyon. They were able to defeat the tribes and capture about 1400 horses and most of the Indians winter supplies. Losses on both sides were very low but the loss of the supplies and horses effectively ended the Red River War.

I love Texas history. I'm a misplaced native Texican...............

Yeah, I've read that Col. Mckenzie ordered all the captured horses shot there in the canyon, as it was too big a herd to handle and drive after the capture. Wonder what those Comanches felt as they watched their horses (wealth) slaughtered before their eyes.

[Lassiter]

In Sept. of 1874 Col. Ranald Mackenzie and troops of the 4th US Cavalry discovered where several camps of the southern plains Indian tribes were camped in Palo Duro Canyon. They were able to defeat the tribes and capture about 1400 horses and most of the Indians winter supplies. Losses on both sides were very low but the loss of the supplies and horses effectively ended the Red River War.

I love Texas history. I'm a misplaced native Texican...............

Yeah, I've read that Col. Mckenzie ordered all the captured horses shot there in the canyon, as it was too big a herd to handle and drive after the capture. Wonder what those Comanches felt as they watched their horses (wealth) slaughtered before their eyes.

That probably had quite an impact. I think I remember reading that most returned to the reservation at Ft. Sill, OK. by November of that year. I think that Col. Makenzie gave 3 or 4 hundred of the horses to his indian scouts and had the rest slaughtered in the canyon. The southern plains indians were a horse culture and when they were put afoot it seriously hampered their ability to continue the free roaming lifestyle that they had enjoyed for hundreds of years. The end of an era...........

[BILLYDIXON]

Those pictures bring back a lot of memories. I grew up in Lubbock. I spent about 15 yrs there on and off. And yes it's flatter than a cow turd. Lubbock that is.