Showing posts with label Palo Duro Canyon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Palo Duro Canyon. Show all posts

Saturday, August 14, 2021

2019-11-25: Our Return to Hiking the Lighthouse Trail in Palo Duro Canyon Texas

Welcome back friends, family, geocachers, RV'ers, Jeepers, and everyone else who just happened to drop by my AwayWeGo's Geocaching Adventures blog. This is more about just geocaching though. I'm here to share my travels around this great country. The geocaching just helps me find some of those out-of-the-way very rural backroads "not-on-your-tourist-map" great sightseeing treasures.

If you'd like to follow along via many of the social media sites. I'll provide links at the end of this blog. I'd also love to hear from you, so please feel free to comment here or on the social sites. And please by all means share my stories with your friends too. I hope my stories inspire you to get out and explore.



Well after my opening paragraph, today we DID do the touristy thing and return to the Palo Duro Canyon. We both had this Thanksgiving week off so we decided to take a drive up to Amarillo, Texas and do some hiking in the Canyon. We were here a few years earlier to make this hike and that's where I proposed to her. (see "She Said Yes!") We've been married now for just over three years.

Plus along the hiking trail up to the famous rock formation called The Lighthouse, there was a trail of geocaches hidden. Many of those caches had been missing and we had to DNF them. They've since been replaced and now we can redeem those DNF's.



The weather couldn't have been better! It was cool out and with sunny skies, it made for perfect hiking. It also made for some pretty good photos I think. This next photo I call Sitting Chief. I don't know if it has an official name, but that's what I think of every time I see it.



Some background info from the Palo Duro website: The history of the canyon goes back a long ways. The Clovis and Folsom peoples first lived in the canyon and hunted large herds of mammoths and giant bison. More recently, the Apache, Comanche, and Kiowa took advantage of the canyon's plentiful resources. These early cultures left behind rock art and bedrock mortars where they ground mesquite beans and roots for food. The early Spanish explorers probably discovered the canyon and called it Palo Duro, Spanish for Hard Wood.

The Red River War between the U.S. Army and southern Plains Indians lasted from June 1874 to the spring of 1875. A decisive battle occurred in the canyon on Sept. 28, 1874. Colonel Ranald S. Mackenzie led the 4th U.S. Cavalry in a surprise attack at dawn on a camp of Comanches, Kiowas and Cheyennes. The families fled up the canyon, leaving everything behind. MacKenzie’s troops captured 1,400 ponies and shot most of them. Soldiers also burned all the teepees and winter stores. With no horses or supplies, the families had no choice but to return to the reservation. The reign of Native Americans over the Panhandle plains ended soon after.



Charles Goodnight, a former Texas Ranger, drove 1,600 Longhorn cattle to Palo Duro Canyon in 1876. He and his partner John Adair, an English aristocrat, founded the JA Ranch in 1877. At its peak in 1885, the ranch grazed 100,000 head of cattle on 1,325,000 acres spread across the Panhandle. After Adair died, his widow, Cornelia, took over as Goodnight’s partner. In 1887, Goodnight decided to scale back his ranching activities. The partnership ended that year, and the partners divided the land. Most of the canyon belonged to the JA Ranch up until 1890. Adair descendants continue to run the JA Ranch today.

The state bought the land for the park from Fred S. Emory in 1933. Soon after, Civilian Conservation Corps workers arrived, and spent the next five years creating a park. First, they built a camp for their home base, and then they set to work in the immense canyon. The men built the winding road to the canyon floor. Until it was finished, they hiked in and out of the canyon on what is now the CCC Trail. CCC workers made all of the park’s original improvements, including El Coronado Lodge (now the Visitor Center), the cabins on the rim and canyon floor, and trails. Designers planned the park to maximize views and complement the surroundings. The CCC used local stone and wood for building materials. In addition, workers forged decorative metal and crafted furniture. The park opened in 1934 before it was complete. It is the second largest park in the state parks system today, with about 28,000 acres



So of the 6 or 8 remaining caches along the trail that we needed to find, we only DNF'd just one... again. Since our last visit there was added a virtual geocache (GC7B6H7) and an earthcache (GC81YE8) up at Lighthouse Point. Upon arriving, we did the obligatory oohs and aahs, took in the views and captured some photos. Then after a short time we hunted for the answers for the caches before descending down into the canyon for our hike back to the parking lot. It is a beautiful Texas State Park and one of my favorite places in the country. I'm sure we will be returning again often.



I hope you have enjoyed our visit today to Palo Duro Canyon up in the panhandle of Texas. To follow along on our travels and keep up with my latest blogs, you may do so here of course. But also by using you favorite of these social media platforms: Facebook, MeWe, Gab, Reddit, Parlor, Twitter, and Instagram. These all link directly to my profile. Again, please feel free to comment and / or share. Until next time... see you out on the road!

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

2016-02-21: Hiking in a Beautiful Canyon with a Beautiful Lady and She Said YES!

Hello again and welcome back to our Geocaching Adventure blog. Today I had a surprise planned for Candy. We were supposed to have gone to Palo Duro Canyon here in Texas back in November for a vacation. But do to her job change at that same time, our vacation plans were cancelled and we ended up moving to Texas. First in East Texas and now in West Texas.

Well today we finally got the chance and good weather to make the 2-hour drive up and take a hike. And I couldn't have asked for much better weather either. It started out a little cloudy. But by the time we reached our the Lighthouse Peak, the sky had cleared. Still a little windy, especially up at the peak. But at least it wasn't hot!

After arriving at the trailhead parking, I put on the backpack with some bottled water, grabbed both GPS's for Geocaching, and away we went. Because the weather was so nice and being a Sunday, there were quite a few people out on the trails. I mean there must have been 25-30 cars parked at the trail head and saw plenty of people coming and going along the trail.

We started out on the trail and within a few hundred feet came to and found our first Geocache. Then about 600'-700' down we found the next cache. The next cache however, we spent about 10 minutes looking without success, a DNF. It was then I decided that this may take more time than I expected. So we just hiked through to the Lighthouse Peak and would do the Geocaching on the way back.

We enjoyed the views and took lots of pictures. In this first photo below, I don't know if this rock formation has a specific name but I call it "Sitting Chief." Following the ridge to the right and into the second photo, this hill is actually called "Capital Peak."

Sitting Chief
Capital Peak


Down to the right you can see two peaks way in the distance.
That is Lighthouse Peak and our destination.

After about an hour, we arrived at the base of Lighthouse Peak and began our climb up. This section here was probably the most difficult as there was a lot of sand through here which made the steep climb slippery. You kinda had to walk funny from side-to-side finding flat spots on secure rock.


We've reached the top! Here is a panoramic photo taken from between the two towers. It was a spectacular view! The wind was blowing at about a chilly 30 mph too. But definitely worth the 6.84 mile round trip hike!


After a few moments of enjoying those views and taking pictures, we saw some hikers going up to the top of the second peak. The one to the right side of the next photo. So we decide to follow up the narrow trail to go part way up also.




Now we're back down next to Lighthouse Peak and got another hiker to take our photo. Before heading back, I decided it was time and took off my backpack and we sat on the edge looking out into the canyon. Looking at the photo of us below, it was just to the right of where we are standing. We had just celebrated our two years together since our first date and TODAY was Candy's birthday.

I reminisced about our adventures and how we've gotten through some rough spots already. And that if we work together, we can climb any mountain and walk through any valley. Just as we hiked up here to Lighthouse Peak. I then proceeded to ask her if she would marry me and she said YES! YIPPEE!! I have been waiting many months to get here to this beautiful place to propose to a beautiful lady! 


On the hike back we found 11 more Geocaches for a total of 13 along the trail. There were almost as many missing caches having 9 DNF's! We didn't look for all of those 9 as most had previous DNF's from the last few cachers.

Below we had a tiny water crossing and had to make it as dramatic as possible for our extreme Geocaching friends back in Florida! And MY Sweet Candy and her phone ready to take photos. She's so cute!



"This is where he proposed and I said YES!"

I saw the little trail and had to run up the hill.
From that point up got a little more vertical!
So today was another especially great adventure kinda day! We can now call each other fiance instead of boyfriend and girlfriend! Thanks for reading about our special day. We hope you enjoyed it. Please leave a comment to let us know you stopped by and feel free to share it with your friends. Maybe that boyfriend or girlfriend to kinda drop a hint! Hmmm...

See ya next time.