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Bgibbs · 09-20-2016, 08:51 PM

Heading there on Monday. Supposed to cool off next week. Any suggestions? We were there years ago, but only for the day and did not spend the night in the park. I've read a lot of reviews on the park and 2 recurring comments are dirty showers and lots of flies. Sounds very attractive. Anyone been there recently that can add some insight? Planning to be there Mon-Fri.

Wesair · 09-20-2016, 09:08 PM

Greetings, we were there in March 2015. Its a beautiful place and I thought it was reasonably well maintained. I don't remember the showers specifically but I think they were less than steaming hot. We had a little teardrop at the time and the showers were adequate. The hiking was great. There is also an RV dealer in Amarillo (Jack Sisemore Traveland) that has an RV museum which was fun. There is also an art museum in Amarillo that we enjoyed. there were no flies in March. I think you will have a good time.

Bgibbs · 10-02-2016, 12:35 PM

Just returned from our trip to Palo Duro Canyon State Park and we had a great time. Weather was beautiful the whole time. We did visit the RV Museum in Amarillo and it was fun. They have one of the Wally Byam Caravan trailers on display and several other early Airstreams, along with antique motor homes, trailers and motorcycles. I visited an old college friend that practices dentistry in Canyon. Hadn't seen him in almost 40 years.
Found that we can go 3 days before needing a dump station. There are 3 in the park.
We hiked to the Lighthouse (6 miles round trip) and my bad knee did not enjoy the last mile or so! That knee replacement looks more and more likely.
The AS was flawless with the exception one one lost rivet in the bath.
The flies we somewhat of a nuisance. We were warned about snakes but didn't see any. Came face to face with a roadrunner at the Lighthouse. I don't know who was the more surprised.
Can't wait to go back.

KJRitchie · 10-02-2016, 03:07 PM

Traveled there in December 2012 with my daughter. We had a Casita then. It was very windy the day we arrived as a front was coming through. Got down to 18F that night but the next couple of days were sunny reaching into the upper 60s. We hike to the Lighthouse. The campgrounds were empty but for a few. The campground host at the Hackberry Campground, where we camped, had an Airstream. I had no idea at the time we would be owners of an Airstream. Since it was almost officially winter there were no bugs. The restrooms were clean enough, up to the typical Texas State Park standards, and we used the showers.

Kelvin

Lumatic · 10-02-2016, 04:43 PM

The jeep tour into the canyon right before the entrance was great

tsunami · 10-02-2016, 06:49 PM

Visited Palo Dura Canyon and was not overly impressed. Spent a couple days there. Campground was OK, but after having been to a lot of the National Parks, for me, I find no reason to drive through miles and miles of nothing Texas to see Palo Dura again.

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Silver Otter · 10-02-2016, 07:31 PM

Palo Duro is our *go-to* park whenever we cross No. TX. Hackberry is the campground to choose. The canyon walks are wonderful. The museum in Canyon is worth a visit. We love the turkeys. It's a destination park for those of us who love to get away.

Buzzr · 10-02-2016, 07:34 PM

We camped there for 3 nights last December. I think it is worth a visit. The canyon is beautiful, and the hiking is great. The campground itself is OK if a little overpriced for what you get. The staff is brusk.
There is a lot of history there. The reign of the Comanches came to an end in the Battle of Palo Duro Canyon in 1874. I would go again.

Hiwheel Joe · 10-02-2016, 07:42 PM

It is worth a visit during the summer when the play is running at the amphitheater. Very patriotic and worth seeing. Very good production by student actors.

Starstream · 10-02-2016, 08:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tsunami

Visited Palo Dura Canyon and was not overly impressed. Spent a couple days there. Campground was OK, but after having been to a lot of the National Parks, for me, I find no reason to drive through miles and miles of nothing Texas to see Palo Dura again.

"Nothing" Texas. Them's fightin' words! How much of the state have you actually seen? (We're long-term Texans, not natives. Been here long enough that we've become attached. I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

)

Palo Duro looks interesting to us, and we actually like empty campgrounds. But here's what we really want to know. What are the night skies like? We're interested in star gazing and astrophotography.

rmkrum · 10-02-2016, 08:32 PM

A good friend of mine always said he was an American by birth, and a Texan by the grace of God.

Yup, a native.

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SSquared · 10-02-2016, 08:50 PM

We also just got back from Palo Duro. We did the Lighthouse hike also, only to the official "end of trail" point, though most people seemed to go farther.

We found the flies bothersome in the evening, enough to drive us inside halfway through dinner our first night there.

We saw several roadrunners and turkeys. Two Great Horned Owls flew overhead at dusk near the Juniper loop campground, and we heard a third one. Saw a small handful of birds on the Lighthouse hike, we were hoping for better birding there. Saw two snakes crossing roads in the park, could not identify them.

We also visited the Sisemore RV museum. Very enjoyable. Recommended.

We visited the Texas Air and Space Museum. We got a free personally guided tour which was nice, but the collection itself is pretty small.

We also spent two nights at Fritch Fortress in the Lake Meredith National Recreation Area, which is north of Amarillo. Free camping, no hookups, great sunset views. Went to Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument and got the free tour (call ahead for reservations during the busy times, and to find out if/when the tour will be given during the slow season). We found the Flint Quarries quite interesting. Recommended.

Starstream: The night skies are pretty dark. The campgrounds are all at the bottom of the canyon, so the canyon rim limits your view of the horizon, but I think it is a good place for star gazing.

As for the Airstream, the water inlet was leaking so we had to run off the fresh tank, the kitchen sink was leaking, the air conditioner broke, and one of our Goodyear Marathons slipped a belt. But my new water leak alarm worked!

Bgibbs · 10-02-2016, 09:33 PM

I am not a stargazer, but our camp host last week is an avid one. He had a 16" telescope sitting in front of his site that he looked like he was working on. We stopped to ask about it and he said he was about to disassemble it because they had been there a month and were leaving the following day. He had built the telescope in 1998-it looked new. He asked if we wanted to look at the sun and, of course, we did. He changed out some pieces of the telescope and we could actually look at sun flares. He said they were 25,000-30,000 miles high! Then he changed out some more parts and we looked at sun spots. And then at the moon!
We knew he had lots to do so we thanked him for the time and let him finish packing.

Bgibbs · 10-02-2016, 09:38 PM

Tsunami:
I AM a native Texan and if you are going to criticize Palo Duro Canyon why not, at least, learn how to spell it?

Starstream · 10-03-2016, 04:49 PM

Thanks for the stargazing info. Astrophotography has interested me for several years, but the Houston area ain't great for that kind of hobby. The only time we've really seen the stars here was after Hurricane Ike blew thru and no one had electricity.

It would be cool if the same host is there when we visit Palo Duro. Would love to look thru his telescope. I'm busy investing in my photography wish list right now. A telescope is not at the top of the list yet.

KJRitchie · 10-03-2016, 06:12 PM

There was a stargazing party at Bryce when I was there back in June 2015.
Lots of different telescopes. Looking at a couple of planets was cool but even with powerful telescope, such as the one below, stars or clusters were just points of lights. The telescopes were more interesting to look at.

Kelvin

Starstream · 10-03-2016, 09:02 PM

That's a big one. Don't think it would fit under Stellar's bed. A friend of ours has a telescope he and his son have never really used. Might see if they want to sell it eventually. In the meantime, the observatory near Ft. Davis is on the bucket list. They have star parties there. It would be really cool to look thru their telescope, though I'm not sure that's included. That's a topic for another thread, though.

tsunami · 10-06-2016, 07:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Starstream

"Nothing" Texas. Them's fightin' words! How much of the state have you actually seen? (We're long-term Texans, not natives. Been here long enough that we've become attached. I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

)

Palo Duro looks interesting to us, and we actually like empty campgrounds. But here's what we really want to know. What are the night skies like? We're interested in star gazing and astrophotography.

Having driven across Texas from El Paso to Louisiana on I-10, From Texarkana on I-20 southwest to I-10, I-40 to I-27 then on south to Lubbock, where I purchased my very first AS, then on state roads to New Mexico. Have visited San Antonio, Austin, Abilene..., I know there are vast regions of NOTHING in Texas. The stock yards next to the interstate, are another discussion. Didn't say that Texas doesnt't have it's good point, just a huge amount of NOTHING!!!!

Lumatic · 10-06-2016, 09:03 AM

If you are expecting Grand Canyon you may be dissapointed, but Palo Duro State Park is only a fraction of the canyon. It's the biggest canyon in Texas and one of the biggest in the country. There is a lot of western history there including Charles Goodnight, Oliver Loving and the Goodnight-Loving Trail and the development of the cattle industry. A lot of Native American History too. There is also a herd of Longhorns and a few bison.

If you see beauty in open country with big sky I guarantee you will see a BIG something.

Yeah, the flies this time of year hurt when they bite, but this is camping. Same problem in NM. Palo Duro is really nice in the summer if you have kids, playing in the wash.

Starstream · 10-06-2016, 07:46 PM

Hey, tsunami! Just so you know, I’m not really offended by your opinion. Many people would categorize most of the Great Plains states as a large area of “nothing”. I grew up in semi-arid eastern Colorado and used to feel one really wasn’t camping unless you were in the mountains. Somewhere along the way, after living in other places, like South Dakota, Nebraska and Iowa, my viewpoint changed. The world is full of interesting things to see, but sometimes you have to slow down and really study the details. In the spring, there are all kinds of wildflowers hiding in the prairie grasses, and other than a night sky full of stars, I can’t think of anything more awesome than watching a massive thunderstorm develop in the distance (key word there.) If you’re passing thru at the right time of year, stop and study a cactus flower. They look just as exotic as the rarest orchid.

Places that most people would classify as boring or there’s “nothing” there, are actually an astrophotographer’s paradise. Where there are no people, there is no artificial light to interfere with your view of the night sky. So while people have commented about the location of Palo Duro’s campgrounds, it’s very unlikely I’ll set up my equipment there.