Camping and Hiking Around the Texas Panhandle: Palo Duro Canyon & 3 More Top Parks in the Area.

One Spring Break, we went hiking and camping around Palo Duro Canyon in the Texas Panhandle. We explored three more top parks in the area, including the first National Monument in Texas, the Alibates Flint Quarries.

Besides Palo Duro Canyon State Park, we hiked and camped at Copper Breaks and Caprock Canyons State Parks.

We’ve been to Palo Duro Canyon before, but it was the first time for the other two state parks and the National Monument.

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My family enjoys camping and hiking, and in Texas, Spring Break is one of the best times to do it. The weather is nice – not too hot during the day, and not too cold at night.

A year before this trip, we went camping and hiking in the Texas Hill Country.

So, here’s everything you need to know about Palo Duro Canyon and the other 3 top parks in the Texas Panhandle. Nice to visit during Spring Break, or early summer before the Texas summer heat takes over the state.

Camping and Hiking Around the Texas Panhandle.

Palo Duro Canyon State Park in Canyon

Palo Duro Canyon State Park is the second biggest canyon in the country. Yes, right after the Grand Canyon in Arizona. It is up to 800 feet deep, about 120 miles long, and 20 miles wide.

As you descend 500 feet to the floor of the canyon, you can see the beautiful colors of the four geologic layers. Watch for the hoodoos, too.

If this is your first time, visit the Visitor Center on the canyon rim to learn more about the park. You can buy books, pottery, jewelry, and more in the park store inside the Visitor Center.

At the Trading Post on the canyon floor, you can find souvenirs, snacks, and meals.

Don’t forget to grab the Junior Ranger Program book before you leave the Visitor Center if you come with children.      

Palo Duro has over 30 miles of trails for hikers, bikers, or horse riders to explore. Ranging from easy to difficult, hiking is one of the favorite activities to do in the park.

Hiking the Lighthouse Trail is the most popular activity. At the end of the trail, you will see a rock formation that looks like a Lighthouse. It’s the landmark of the park.

Trails may close due to wet weather or poor conditions. Check with the park before your trip.

The TEXAS Outdoor Musical is a must-see when you visit during the summertime. It is a family-friendly show full of singing, dancing, fireworks, and lots of Texas humor!

It runs Tuesdays through Sundays at the Pioneer Amphitheater in the park. Come early for a barbecue dinner at the covered patio.

You are required to buy a ticket to enjoy the show and the barbecue. 

Palo Duro Canyon State Park has numerous interesting Ranger Programs for all ages. For example, hiking or running on different trails, learning about the rocks that shaped the park, and stargazing.

It is also home to the Official State of Texas Longhorn Herd. You can see them not too far from the entrance.

The Civilian Conservation Corps built Palo Duro. They began work in 1933 and spent the next five years creating the park that we enjoy today.

In 1934, the park opened to the public.   

When we visited during Spring Break, the temperature was 60 degrees at the beginning of the hike. It climbed to 70 in the middle of the trail. By the time we arrived back at the starting point, it was already 83. Man, it was really hot in the canyon.

Fortunately, there was a snow cone hut right next to our car. Phew!

Start hiking as early as you can.

Even though they said summer is their busiest time of year, I found  Spring Break was packed with visitors, too. We didn’t get to stay at one of their campgrounds.

If possible, book a site five months in advance, especially if you plan to visit during peak seasons.  

Address: 11450 Park Road, Canyon, TX 79015. Ph.: (806) 488 2227.

Entrance Fees: Adult: $8 daily. Child 12 years and under: Free. Or, free with a Texas State Park Pass.

Hours: Open daily for day use from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Park Headquarters opens at 8 a.m., closing time vary by season. 

Busy Season: Summer months during the play season.

Accommodation: Campsites and cabins. 

Things to do: – hiking and biking – horseback riding – camping – geocaching – studying nature or bird watching – Ranger programs – watching the TEXAS Outdoor Musical 

Distance from big cities: – Amarillo 30 m – Fort Worth 5 h 30 m – Dallas 6 h

BONUS:

Amarillo is only 30 minutes from the park. Head into town and visit the famous Cadillac Ranch, the Big Texan, where you can eat a 72-oz. steak for free if you finish it in one hour, and the Route 66 Historic District. They are the top 3 must-see in Amarillo when you only drive through town or visit for a short time. 

Copper Breaks State Park in Quanah

Remotely located about a 20-minute drive south of Quanah, Copper Breaks State Park is popular with campers seeking peace.

It has around 12 miles of trails for hikers, bikers, and horse riders to explore, and two small lakes offer fishing year-round for bass, catfish, crappie, and sunfish.

Sunrises and sunsets are spectacular here, especially from the Big Pond equestrian campsites.

Or hike the Juniper Ridge and Rocky Ledges Loop trails for higher vantage points.

Stargazing is also popular, since Copper Breaks State Park has been designated an International Dark Sky Park by the International Dark Sky Association.

Bring your own telescope, or join the monthly star parties offered from April through November, as well as other night sky programs throughout the year.

Copper Breaks State Park is also one of the four Texas State Parks that is home to the Official State of Texas Longhorn Herd. They live in the south pasture near the park entrance, but they weren’t around while we were there.

The other three parks are Lyndon B. Johnson State Park & Historic Site, Palo Duro Canyon State Park, and San Angelo State Park.

Also, visit the museum inside the Visitor Center. It is pretty cool. You will find all the information you need to know about the park, present and past.

When we visited the park, we pitched a tent for the night. Somehow, I didn’t understand why they put us in the overflow campsites since the park wasn’t full. Good thing, it was located near the bathroom. 

Here we hiked for 1.66 miles on 2 different trails, where our son and his friend, who came with us on this trip, had fun climbing and exploring the rocks along the trails.

We hiked the Juniper Ridge Nature Trail and Bull Canyon Trail.

After supper, my son set up his telescope to get a closer look at the stars, but at the same time, the temperature started to drop, too.

We finally went to bed and woke up with frost on the tent the next morning. A Polar Bear Badge for the boys who were Cub Scouts at the time. 

Address: 777 Park Road 62, Quanah, TX 79252-7679. Ph. (940) 839 4331.

Entrance Fees: 13 years and older: $3 daily. Child 12 years and under: Free. Or free with a Texas State Park Pass.

Hours: Open daily. Gate is open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Busy Season: Spring and Summer.

Accommodation: Water and electricity, primitive, equestrian, and overflow campsites.

Things to do: – hiking and biking – fishing and swimming – camping – stargazing – horseback riding – paddling and boating – ranger programs

Distance from big cities: – Amarillo 2.5 h – Fort Worth 3 h – Dallas 3 h 30 min.

BONUS:

Quanah is a small town between Dallas/Fort Worth and Amarillo on US-287 N. We have never stopped here until we made this Spring Break trip.

Before we went to the park, we made a turn to downtown Quanah and found two museums in this town. Yes! Two museums.

The first one is the Hardeman County Jail Museum, and the other one is the Quanah, Acme, and Pacific Depot Museum.

Both museums are full of interesting local history. Who would have thought that the local boy was selected by NASA to be an astronaut in the Apollo program?

Another interesting thing, this depot has a beautiful architecture. It was built in 1908 in Spanish style and red Ludowici Seville tile roof. One of the best examples of a historical depot in Texas.

If you pass through the town and have extra time, visit these museums. 

Caprock Canyons State Park & Trailway in Quitaque (pronounced: kitty-quay)

About one and a half hours’ drive to the southwest of Palo Duro Canyon State Park is Caprock Canyons & Trailway State Park. Another beautiful park in the Texas Panhandle that you must visit.

You will be surprised to see the canyons with shades of red, orange, and white, just like in Palo Duro Canyon. After all, both state parks are located not too far from each other.

Caprock Canyons is also home to the Texas State Bison Herd. The bison herd descends directly from the Goodnight bison. They are unique because they have been isolated from other bison gene pools.

Therefore, these animals are among the last remaining members of the Southern Plains bison herd.

One fun fact about the bison, they are free to roam within certain boundaries of the park and are protected for future generations to enjoy.

I’ve seen more bison here than in Yellowstone National Park, but not as many as in Custer State Park in South Dakota.

Caprock Canyons has nearly 90 miles of trails for hikers and bikers to explore. Trails range from easy to very challenging, from 1 to 15 miles in length.

And, there’s a chance for you to encounter bison during the hike.

Do you want a more adventurous visit? Explore the Caprock Canyons Trailway for a day trip or for a more extensive excursion.

The trailway offers an exciting 64-mile-long experience for hikers, bikers, and equestrian trail riders. It splits into shorter segments, ranging from 5 to 12 miles long (one way). Don’t go alone here, because cell service is limited.

The historic Clarity Tunnel is along the trailway. It is the summer residence of a large colony of Mexican free-tailed bats.

You can join the guided vehicle tour from the park to see the bat emergence flight.

At night, billions of stars paint the sky, making it one of the best places for stargazing in the Panhandle.

Of course, our wannabe astronaut son set up his telescope again. Fortunately, it wasn’t as cold as our first night in Copper Breaks State Park. 

When you visit with children, don’t forget to check the Junior Ranger Program. There are interesting programs for the young visitors and their families. You can even borrow an explorer pack, loaded with tools for exploring the park.

My son and his friend got to join the ranger program called “Pin the Tail on the… err… uhm…bison?!” Chock-full of information about bison and bison in the area in particular. Just stand near them so you can learn about bison, too.

On our second night at the park, we joined another ranger program called Constellations in the Canyon. The park’s volunteers from 3 Rivers Foundation and Amarillo Star Gazing Club set up their high-end telescopes for visitors to enjoy the night sky.

Check out the park’s events page to plan your visit accordingly. Usually, they plan the programs for the next two months. It will help you a lot in making an itinerary for your parks hopping in the Texas Panhandle.

We camped at the Equestrian Campsite because none of the water and electricity campsites were available. We could have stayed at the sites with water and an organic toilet, but I preferred to bring our own toilet. My husband set it up in the pop-up privacy tent. We’re not the only ones who had it.

The cool thing about camping here was waking up to bison grazing on grass outside the gate. Apparently, our campground was one of the bison’s favorite hangouts. 

Every time we returned to the campsite, they were grazing on grass by the gate or scratching their body against the tree.

When they were standing closer to the gate, we had to wait in the car until they moved. Then, we opened the gate as fast as we could.

During the day, we did a lot of hiking. When we hiked the Canyon Rim Trail, we encountered a herd of bison grazing on the grass around the hiking trail that we were going to pass.

It’s pretty cool to be able to see them right in their native habitat and just about 50 yards away from us. They made us turn around because we didn’t know how long they would stay there. 

We also hiked to the Natural Bridge and climbed and explored the rocks around the area. Wish we could stay longer to hike North Prong and South Prong.

Absolutely, a day visit to Caprock Canyons State Park is not enough. Spend at least a night in one of the campsites available here.

There are so many trails to explore, interesting Ranger Programs to join,  and where else can you roam with the bison while hiking in Texas, right?

Address: 850 Caprock Canyon Rd., Quitaque, TX 79255. Ph.: (512) 389 8900.

Entrance Fees: 13 years and older: $5 daily. Child 12 years and under: Free. Or free with a Texas State Park Pass.

Hours: Open daily. Office hours are from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday; 8 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m. on Sunday through Thursday.  

Busy Season: Spring, Summer, and Fall.

Accommodation: Water and electricity, primitive, equestrian, and overflow campsites.

Things to do: – hiking and mountain biking – fishing and swimming – no-wake boating – camping – stargazing – horseback riding – geocaching – ranger programs

Distance from big cities: – Amarillo 1 h 50 m – Fort Worth 4 h 30 m – Dallas 5 h.

BONUS:

If you visit in September, you might see the Texas State Bison Herd Music Festival in downtown Quitaque. The park helps host the festival to raise funds for maintaining the bison herd.

Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument

There weren’t too many people who had heard about the Alibates Flint Quarries, the first National Monument in Texas.

As mentioned above, I first heard about this Monument when I was looking for outdoor places to visit during our hiking and camping trip in the Texas Panhandle.

Alibates Flint Quarries is a place to see different colors of flint. The mammoth hunters used flints as a source of raw materials to make weapons and tools. 

Most of the flints are on the hill, and climbing to the top is like climbing a 17-story building!

There are no entrance fees associated with the Monument. The ranger-guided tours and programs are also free of admission. You are required to make a reservation for all the tours. 

Start your visit at the Visitor Center. You will watch a movie about the area and the prehistoric people who lived there 13,000 years ago.

Then walk through the interactive exhibits and a bookstore. 

If you are visiting with children, don’t forget to grab a Junior Ranger Program book.

Outside the Visitor Center is the Alibates Interpretive Garden. A 10-minute self-guided hike on the Mesquite Trail also starts from the garden. It winds around a small mesa where you will find information on how the Monument got its name, Alibates.

Remember! The hike to the quarries is a ranger-guided only, and they will transport you by van to the bottom of the hill. Or, ride your own vehicle, following the ranger.

When you go, don’t forget to check the weather forecast. The temperature changes fast at the top. It was in the lower 80s when we started, and by the time we arrived at the top, it was in the mid-90s.

I suggest you visit in the morning.

Address: 37084 Alibates Rd., Potter County, TX 79036.

Entrance fees: Free.

Hours: Open daily except Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Things to do: – ranger programs – hiking 

Distance from big cities: – Amarillo 40 m – Fort Worth 5 h 30 m – Dallas 6 h

Bonus:

You can always pitch your tent in Lake Meredith National Recreation Area, a few miles before you enter the Monument. It is free and available on a first-come, first-served basis, unless you come in an RV and stay at Sanford-Yake sites with electric and water hookups.

Lake Meredith is a local favorite for water activities once the water is warm enough to the touch.

Have you been to Palo Duro Canyon or the other three parks? What do you think of these parks?

If you haven’t been to one of these parks, I hope this article can help you make an itinerary for the Texas Panhandle.

In the meantime, save it for later.