Palo Duro Canyon State Park in Canyon Texas

Long winding roads, scenic views, windy days and cool nights are just a few of the things you can experience at Palo Duro Canyon State Park in Canyon Texas.

Palo Duro Canyon is the second largest canyon in the United States, the only one larger is the Grand Canyon. Palo Duro Canyon has been inhabited for around 12000 years. The Clovis and Folsom people were the first to live here, hunting mammoth and bison. Later the Apache, Comanche and Kiowa Indians lived in the canyon until forced out in the mid 1870s. Shortly thereafter the canyon became a cattle ranch and is still operated by descendants of one of the original partners.

If your interested in Camping here, you will need to be aware of a few things:

Don’t rely completely on Garmin to get you there. My GPS took me down a residential area to a place where a bridge once existed, but it must have been torn down long ago. So we needed to back track and then find a different path to the park.
You will need a state park pass or you will need to pay a daily park entrance fee. The Park Pass is $70.00 and allows you access to all of the State Parks in Texas for an entire year. Additionally, having a park pass gets you an extra discount on your camping, which is already a bargain.
The check-in process is a little strange; even though you have reservations you will be required to pull off to the side of the road after you pull past the guard station, then go into the office to complete the check in process. There are only a few spots to pull off, so that part of the process could use some improvement.
Signage for our section of the campground was non-existent. We had to rely on the campground map which doesn’t specify distances, only land marks (e.g. turn after the fork in the road but before the dump station). Signage overall needs to be better in the park.
There is no Wi-Fi and you may not get cellular service at your campground. We had neither but actually that was a pleasant change. We were there to kick back and relax with the puppies.
There are rattle snakes and they warn you about them; but we had no encounters the entire time we were there.
Dump stations are limited but we never saw a line of RVs waiting to use them.
If you are in the last part of the campground in the park, as we were, it is an 8 mile drive from the park entrance at 30 miles per hour, through sometimes steep and curving roads. Both Juniper and Mesquite campgrounds are at the far end of the canyon. So plan on another 15 minute ride, at least, to get to those campsites.
Be careful when you walk your dog(s) as there are some pretty sharp thistles just off the path ways. The ground cover for the most part is just wild vegetation, not grass.
FILL UP with gas at the last city before the park or you will pay a premium at the park for fuel. It’s about 20 miles to the nearest gas station outside the park.

Now all that being said, I have to say that I don’t think there is a bad campsite in the entire park. The views are incredible. It is really amazing to look out your window and be surrounded by the canyon. We liked it so much that we are planning a return trip next spring.

The park has numerous hiking trails that range from easy to difficult. The most famous trail in the Park is the “Light House trail”, it is 2.72 miles one way. They recommend that you take a gallon of water per person on this trail as they have the most heat related fatalities on this path. We went fairly early in the morning when it was cool, and once we reach the trail end we had some grapes and water, then started back. It took less than three hours to complete the trail.

For an easy trail consider taking the “Paseo Del Rio” trail. This is a one mile trail (one way) which leads you to and 1800’s cowboy dugout cabin.

There are 13 trails throughout the park. If you like hiking you will not get bored during your stay here. However, it is just as nice to sit at your campsite and enjoy the peace and the views of the canyon.

One of the longer hikes is the lighthouse trail. This is probably the most popular attraction at the park. If you are hiking this trail during the warmer weather you should make sure to take water. It will be a three mile hike to the lighthouse rock pillar. The hike itself is not a difficult one, but it is not a fast hike either. The trail dips and climbs in places and we found ourselves crossing some areas that had standing water.

Even though we had moderate weather when we stayed at Palo Duro, the hike on the Lighthouse Trail definitely warmed us up. So, again make sure you take water with you. Also don’t be surprised if you run into people walking their dogs on this trail.

There is also the “Trading Post” where you can get a breakfast sandwich or a hamburger if you want a break from cooking at your campsite. We stopped for lunch one day and had the hamburger and fries and it was very good.

If you want to go horseback riding that is also available inside the park.

We could probably say a lot more about the canyon but I’ll let a few pictures speak for themselves. Don’t miss an opportunity to visit this place, even if it’s only for a day.