About 20 miles south of Amarillo is Palo Duro Canyon State Park where we spent the day. Palo Duro is a beautiful canyon in this otherwise flat land. The road goes down into the canyon. At 6 places a creek maybe flowing over the road, today only one crossing had water flowing over the road.
There are campgrounds, picnic areas and trails for hiking, biking and running. We did not get to the Visitor’s Center as it did not open until later in the day but we did stop at snack /gift shop. A dugout used by Col. Charles Goodnight as he was settling this area is a short walk from the roadway.
Tom and I hiked a 2 mile Sunflower Trail that was easy walking on fairly flat land.
It was very warm hiking as the sun was real bright today and temperatures reached into the 80’s. I thought about rattlesnakes as we were walking but thankfully we did not hear or see any snakes or other wildlife. Bicyclists also use the trail and we encountered families and individuals bicycling as well as other hikers. As we were leaving the park a ranger was feeding some Texas Long Horn cattle in a field by the entrance gate. The horns on those cattle are indeed long!
Returning to Amarillo we stopped for a late lunch at Dyer’s Barbeque. I had a brisket dinner, Tom had Brisket, pork and sausage dinner and we were not disappointed. Even the sides of potato salad, cole slaw and beans were some of the best tasting that I have ever had. Tomorrow we are leaving this area and moving on east probably stopping in Oklahoma. We’re planning to continue on US 60 instead of the Interstate Highways that we have traveled on before.
