Palo Duro Canyon, near Amarillo, Texas is the second-largest canyon in the US, after the Grand Canyon, of course. We stayed in Mesquite Campground all the way to the end of the canyon, which was OK but we probably would have preferred Juniper Campground. Miles of trails criss-cross the valley floor and make their way up the canyon walls 800 feet up to the rim. The trails were great to hike and also bike. We broke out the eBikes on our last day there when it finally warmed up a little bit in the afternoon and had a great time on a couple of the valley floor trails.
As we hiked around the canyon we had an awesome feeling of the passage of time. The bottom layers of the canyon walls date back 250 million years. It was cool to think of some prehistoric creature walking the same clay path to the river that we were on now.
Yes, it was 17 degrees one morning. We survived!
It was very cold the week we were here, but we discovered that we can hike in 30 degrees and enjoy it quite a lot. We prefer 30 degrees over 90 in the summer.
Ready to head out on the trail
Along the Rock Garden Trail
Our camp was in the canyon valley, so we had to hike up to get the view (and cell service!)
Along the Rock Garden Trail