Friday, April 13, 2018

Palo Duro Canyon State Park Hike



Here I am camped at Buffalo Lake National Wildlife Refuge near Canyon, Texas.

Remember the RAV4 solar install I did at the RTR?  Well that was Susan’s newly purchased car for her 2018 Vandwelling experience.  The same time that Joanne and I headed to southeastern Utah Susan headed to visit the 5 Utah National Parks.  When she was done she met up with me and Joanne and after a couple days of exploring in UT, it was time for me to head east.  

I head east the beginning of April to visit aunt outside of Chicago and then head to the SE GTG (Get Together) and visit cousin outside of Atlanta, before heading north to visit son outside of Baltimore and finally home for May 1.



Above is Susan as we explore some hidden Native American Ruins in Utah.



As we headed east we met up with another vandweller friends in Albuquerque having bodywork done on their Class C.

Susan knew of Palo Duro Canyon and recommend it as a hike.  It’s a Texas State Park South of Amarillo, TX.  We tried to camp their butbitvwas full, so we ended up at the free campsite Buffalo Lake National Wildlife Refuge (first picture).



It was an excellent day for a hike.  It was warm but my hot.  Susan had picked the trails to the Lighthouse Rock.

It was nice to see some rock color after leaving beautiful Utah.



At some point we decided to make a loop of our hike.  I’m glad we came out through these rock formations as the return trail was not very interesting.



Check out those colors and the blue sky.



The hike didn’t require that much elevation change and this was probably good as the hike ended up being long.



We came to the trail end, or nearly.  I say nearly as some hike and climb the buttes.  Check the butte to the left.  We passed Hiking up the canyon wall and butte, choosing to head back and head out to find tonight’s spot for the night.



Above is the hike from my AllTrails recording.  8.2 miles and no rest rest stops.  It was a weekend day and the trail was cluttered with people.  We were glad we got to the trailhead early to get a spot to park.  The parking lots fill fast.

It was a great hike and after leaving we found a nice Federal campground about 3 miles off of I40.  We split off in Oklahoma as I continued on to the Chicago area to see my aunt.

Brent

macaloney@hotmail.com

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