On the spur of the moment, Melissa asked me how I’d feel about camping at Palo Duro Canyon, a Texas state park she had thoroughly enjoyed during her previous solo trip out west. It was only a half-hour detour off of I-40 in Amarillo, Texas. I’d planned our route with a faster pace than I generally prefer because we’ve been on a mission to get her home as soon as possible, but she suggested the delay because of how nice this place is and even managed to find us a campsite where my van and trailer would fit at the last minute for a Friday night stay. I took that as a sign that we should go. We were on our way there when we had our delay with the fatal crash on I-40 just ahead of us. We worked our way around that and rolled into our campsite mid-afternoon.
We barely even used the campsite facilities themselves because we preferred the view toward the canyon walls behind us. Apparently, some say that Palo Duro Canyon is like the Grand Canyon of Texas. Unlike most things in Texas, it isn’t bigger, not by a long shot. But there are definitely similarities in the way it looks, with layers and layers of red and brown rock having been carved away over the years. The main difference is that all the activity here is down inside the canyon, including all the campgrounds. As a result, I don’t think there’s a bad campsite in this entire place.
Once we got situated at camp, I hopped in the 4Runner so Melissa could show me around the park. For the first time, we were somewhere that she knew well, but I was just seeing for the first time. It had been the other way around all across the southwest, and now she got to share one of her cool spots with me. It was fun to be driven around and given the grand tour, for once, instead of being the one doing it.
We didn’t get nearly as much time here as I would’ve liked. Melissa was fine with spending an extra night here, but our timing was off since we had just gotten here for the weekend, when campgrounds are busiest. We were lucky to find a spot for even one night. But we enjoyed it, and definitely want to go back for a longer stay sometime. I haven’t done many paid campgrounds in my travels, but sometimes it’s definitely worth it. On top of the beautiful location, we also got bathrooms, trash disposal, and showers.
Smokey Da Van 