Palo Duro Canyon & 3 More Top Parks in Texas Panhandle

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One Spring Break we went hiking and camping around Palo Duro Canyon in the Texas Panhandle. We explored 3 more top parks in the area, including the first National Monument in Texas, Alibates Flint Quarries.

Besides Palo Duro Canyon State Park, we visited 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 parks. In fact, we heard about the two parks and the National Monument when we googled about parks to explore around Texas Panhandle for this Spring Break trip.

Our family like to go camping and hiking, and in Texas, Spring Break is one of the best times to do it. Weather is nice, not too hot during the day, and not too cold during the 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 Texas Panhandle. Nice to visit during Spring Break, or early summer before Texas summer heat take over the state.

Palo Duro Canyon & 3 More Top Parks in Texas Panhandle

 

1 – Palo Duro Canyon State Park in Canyon

In case you do not know, 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 visit, I suggest you to stop by the Visitor Center on the canyon rim to learn more about the park. The park store is located here where you can find books, pottery, jewelry, and more. 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 more than 30 miles trails for hikers, bikers, or horse riders to explore. Ranges from easy to difficult, hiking is one of the favorite activities to do in the park. Hiking the Lighthouse Trail is the most popular one, where at the end of trail you will see a rock formation that looks like a Lighthouse. The icon of the park. Trails may close due to wet weather or poor conditions, so you might check with the park before your trip.

TEXAS Outdoor Musical is a must see when you visit during summertime. It is a show about the stories, struggles, and triumphs of the early settlers. A family-friendly show that has singing, dancing, fireworks, and lots of Texas humors! It runs Tuesdays through Sundays at the Pioneer Amphitheater in the park. Come early for a barbecue dinner at the covered patio. However, it requires a ticket to enjoy the show and the barbecue that you can buy it here. 

Palo Duro Canyon State Park has numerous interesting Ranger Programs for all ages. Hiking or running on different trails, learning about the rocks that shaped the park, stargazing, or driving tour with a ranger are some of them. It is also home of the Official State of Texas Longhorn Herd, where you can see them not too far from the entrance.

One important information to know about the park, it is built by the workers of the Civilian Conservation Corps. They started the work in 1933 and spent the next five years to create the park that we enjoyed today. The park opened in 1934 before it was complete.   

When we visited during Spring Break, the temperature was 60 in the beginning of hike, and it went up to 70 in the middle of the trail. By the time we arrived back at the starting point, it’s already at 83. Man, it was really hot at the canyon. Fortunately, there was a snow cone hut right next to our car. Phew! I suggest you to 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 because it was fully booked. Try to book a site five months in advance, especially if you plan to visit during favorite times.  

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 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 for 1-8 people, primitive to sites with water and electricity: $12-$26 nightly. Equestrian campsites with water: $12 nightly. Group campsites: $50 – $250 nightly. Cabin for up to 4 people: $60-$125 nightly. 

Things to do: – hiking and biking – horseback riding – camping – geocache – study nature or bird watch – Ranger programs – watching TEXAS Outdoor Musical 

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

Bonus:

Amarillo is just 30 minutes away from the park. Go to town and check out the famous Cadillac Ranch, the Big Texan where you can eat 72-oz. steak for free if you can finish the entire meal in one hour, and the Route 66 Historic District. 

2 – Copper Breaks State Park in Quanah

Remotely located about 20-minute drive to the south of Quanah, Copper Breaks State Park is popular with campers seeking peace and quiet. 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 that is not open only for horse owners. 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 offer 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 of 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, don’t forget to visit the museum inside the Visitor Center. It is pretty cool, where you will find all information you need to know about the park, now and then.

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. 

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

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

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

Busy Season: Spring and Summer.

Accommodation: Campsites for 1-8 people, primitive to sites with water and electricity: $10-$20 nightly. Equestrian campsites with water: $12 nightly. Group and overflow campsites for 8 people per site: $12 nightly.

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

Both museums are full with 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 with Spanish style and red Ludowici Seville tile roof. One of the best examples of a historical depot in Texas.

If you pass the town and have extra time, do stop at these museums. 

3 – Caprock Canyons State Park & Trailway in Quitaque (pronounce: 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 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 kept isolated from other bison gene pools. Therefore, these animals are among the last remaining members of the Southern Plains bison herd.

One other interesting facts 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 on a 1-15 miles length. And, there’s a change for you to encounter with bison during the hike.

If you want more adventurous time while here, explore the Caprock Canyons Trailway for a day trip or for a longer excursion. The trailway offers an exciting 64-mile-long experience for hikers, bikers, and equestrian trail riders. It is broken into shorter segments, ranging from 5 to 12 miles long (one way). They encourage you not to travel alone here, and cell service is limited.

The historic Clarity Tunnel is located along the trailway, the summer residence of a large colony of the 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 are painting the sky, making it one of the best places to 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. They have numbers of 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 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 put out their huge high-end telescopes for the visitors to enjoy the night sky. 

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

Here we stayed at the Equestrian Campsite because all of the campsites with water and electricity were fully booked. We could stay at the sites with water and organic toilet, but I preferred to bring our own toilet. My husband set it up in the pop-up privacy tent, the first time happened in our camping & hiking trip.

Cool thing about camping here was waking up to bison grazing on grass outside the gate. Apparently our campground was one of their favorite hang outs. Every time we went back to the campsite, there they were grazing on grass by the gate or scratching their back to 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 we could.

During the day we did a lot of hike. When we hiked the Canyon Rim Trail, we encountered a herd of bison who were 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. But 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 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 79255. Ph.: (512) 389 8900.

Entrance Fees: 13 years and older: $5 daily. Child 12 years and under: Free. Or free with 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: Campsites for 1-8 people, primitive to sites with water and electricity: $12-$22 nightly. Equestrian campsites (primitive, water for horses only): $14 nightly. Overflow campsites for 8 people per site: $10 nightly.

Things to do: – hiking and mountain biking – fishing and swimming – no-wake boating – camping – stargazing – horseback riding – geocache – 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 help host the festival to raise funds for maintaining the bison herd.

 

4 – Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument

Not too many people heard about Alibates Flint Quarries, the first National Monument in Texas. Like I mentioned above, I found out 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 where you will get to see different colors of flints, once used as a source of raw materials for weapons and tools by the prehistoric people, the mammoth hunters. Most of the flints are on the hill and climbing to the top is like climbing a 17-stories building!

You can keep your National Park Pass in your wallet when visiting the Monument, because there are no entrance fees associated with the Monument. The ranger-guided tours and programs are also free, but they do require advance reservations for all the tours. 

Start your visit at the Visitor Center where you will watch a movie about the area and the prehistoric people from 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, where you can learn about medicinal, edible, and useful plants, Native American cultivation, Xeriscaping gardening, Alibates wild vineyard, and seasonal Monarch butterfly.

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 a 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 goes up fast at the top. It was in the lower 80s when we started, and went up to mid 90s by the time we arrived at the top. I suggest you to visit in the morning.

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

Directions: It is located approximately 35 miles north of Amarillo, Texas. From I-40 in Amarillo, take Lakeside exit north towards Lake Meredith National Recreation Area. Exit on TX 136 north towards Borger. After about 30 miles, turn west from TX 136 onto Cas Johnson Road. Park Service signs will be visible. Proceed approximately 3 miles to “Y” intersection and bear to right. Go northwest approximately 2 miles to the Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument Visitor Center. 

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 on 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? Let me know what you think about these parks by leaving a comment below. If you haven’t been to one of these parks, I hope this article can be your source for making your itinerary to the Texas Panhandle. In the meantime, save it for later. (Updated on Feb. 13, 2020.)