The Texas Panhandle

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Coming out of Oklahoma, we headed into Texas. We are planning on 4 nights in Amarillo area before moving on to New Mexico. Other times we have passed through Texas, it takes at least four long travel days just to get across the state. It’s about 800 miles across I-10 to cover the state through its middle, but up here in the panhandle, the drive across Texas is only 180 miles on I-40. This part of the state is new to us so we had spent some time over the winter to investigate what there is to do in the area. There is a fair amount of Route 66 things in Amarillo but that wouldn’t consume much time. The thing that caught our eye was a state park about 30 miles southeast of town. As we learned about Palo Duro Canyon State Park, we were amazed to discover that it is the second largest canyon in the US after the Grand Canyon. It seems like a pretty well kept secret if you ask us. We learned about how many excellent hikes they have in the park and they have campgrounds large enough to accommodate our motorhome. We decided that would be the place to spend our time in the area since it would be an easy day trip into Amarillo to check out the few things we wanted to do in town.

Of course when we went to book the 4 nights we were planning on being in the area, we found the campground was full. If we shifted a week earlier or a week later, we would have had no trouble getting a site. It took a bit more internet searching to discover that they have a bike race each year in the park and the participants camp in the park for the race. To accommodate the potential racers, the park simply blocks off all the campsites for the few days needed. Our timing was simply bad for this year’s race. Even if we camp elsewhere, some of the trails would be closed for the race so we wouldn’t even be able to come in for a hike for a few of the days we are in town. There is an Elks Lodge in Amarillo with electric and water hookups so we just plan to stay there for the full four nights and try to work a day trip into Palo Duro later in our stay after the racers are gone.

It’s just over 150 miles from the Elks Lodge in Elk City Oklahoma to the one in Amarillo Texas. We are able to break the drive up with stops to pick up geocaches in 3 more counties along the route. Fortunately the first two stops are at rest stops with plenty of parking for us. One was a simple rest stop but the second one was a fairly fancy one with an interesting visitor center to check out.

Welcome to Texas

Fancy Visitor Center

Picnic Shelter Out Back

The third stop was near the small of Groom Texas - population 552. On the east side of town is the Leaning Tower of Texas. This water tower was constructed with a 10 degree tilt to act as a roadside attraction along Route 66. There really wasn’t parking for us there but we did see it as we drive by. On the west side of town is one of those huge white crosses that we see from time to time as we travel the country. They all seem to have a similar construction design but we have never taken the opportunity to stop at one. The one in Groom is at The Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ visitor center. We had seen there was a geocache here but also a very large gravel parking lot that should work for us to stop for a lunch break. There were quite a few other visitors but we had no trouble finding a spot to park. It was surprising just how tall a 190 foot cross looks when you’re standing next to it.

190 Foot Cross

While Chris made lunch, I headed out to find the geocache and also check out the other things located on the property. They have a beautiful building that appears to be some sort of religious training center. Inside the courtyard is standing in the middle of an elaborate fountain with some exceptionally blue water.

Training Center

Fountain in Courtyard

On a walkway around the huge cross are the Stations of the Cross, as well as a table depicting the Last Supper and on a small hill is the place where Jesus was crucified.

The Last Supper

We pull into the Elks Lodge and find a few other rigs already camping there but there are 8 spots so we picked one and get setup. We head into the bar to check in and pay for our site. The forecast for the days we will be here sounds like it will be a hot few days with temperatures in the mid 90’s. The one thing we were concerned about as we mapped out our route for this season was excessive heat. This stop will be our first test. Our third day here looked to be the coolest if upper 80’s can be considered cool so we plan to head to Palo Duro that day for an extended hike. But there is Wildcat Bluff Nature Center on the northwest side of town that looked to have some decent trail so the next morning we set off early to try to get in a hike and find a couple of geocaches before it truly gets hot.

At Wildcat Bluff

Big Arrow

The visitor center wasn’t open on Sunday morning so we head straight for the trails. There are 4 different trails that radiate out from the center. These can be combined in various ways to produce hikes from a half mile to 3 or more miles. We had picked trails based on where the caches were as well as the descriptions we had read in advance. We head out the trail towards the windmill first since there one geocache in that general direction. The large cattle watering tub is still in place and holding water. The windmill is also still upright but it appears the pump has been changed from wind powered to solar.

Starting Out Trail

Old Windmill

We made the find at that first cache and then headed over to the bluff. The viewpoint at the bluff is almost 100 feet over the land below so it is a bit of a climb but nothing too serious. There are definitely some good distance views from up here. We searched for the cache and found the likely spot it previously was hidden since there was a small cavity under a large rock with a few smaller rocks that would have covered the hiding spot. We logged a DNF (did not find) to let the cache owner there is a problem with it and is likely missing. This person must live close by because later in the evening I got a message from them stating the cache was indeed missing and was now replaced but told us to go ahead and log it as a find. Now that is some impressive cache maintenance! We wander back some other trails as we head towards the visitor center and our car. It was a nice simple hike of 2.6 miles and we more or less beat the heat being done by 10:30 AM.

Atop Wildcat Bluff

A Different View

We had a few sightseeing stops we wanted to attend to for the remainder of the day. Next we head to the northern end of side of town to a small park next to the Amarillo College Medi Park Campus. Here was a large sculpture of a helium atom nearly 50 feet tall. It turns out that this part of Texas contains the majority of the world’s known helium supply. Who knew? The park has a science museum but it too was closed so we could only look into the outside displays. There was a small lake in the park and quite a few people out fishing.

Helium Atom Sculpture

Don Harrington Discovery Center

T-Rex Wanders the Grounds

Nearby Lake

Next stop was on the west side of town to likely the most popular tourist attraction in Amarillo - Cadillac Ranch. Like many others, I’ve heard of the famous Cadillac Ranch but it wasn’t until we were planning our travels that I realized it is located on a frontage road just off of I-40. Created in 1974, 10 old Cadillacs were buried nose first in a line along Historic Route 66. As Amarillo grew, development was close to surrounding the cars. In 1997 the cars were moved into a field 2 miles west of their original location. As we pulled up to the spot, many dozens of cars and likely close to 100 visitors were wandering the grounds around the cars. The thing that surprised us more than the cars was the fact that visitors are encouraged to bring spray paint to decorate the cars while you check them out. Don’t have spray paint? No worries, there is a trailer on the walk in where people can buy it on the spot!

Get Your Spray Paint Here!

10 Cadillacs Lined Up

The paint fumes are almost overwhelming with so many people being artistic at the same time. A word of warning, there are no “wet paint” signs posted but if you feel obligated to touch one of the cars, you have a pretty good chance of touching wet paint.

So Many Artists

With so many people spraying paint on these cars, day after day, for years on end, these cars almost don’t resemble cars anymore. There is easily an inch or two of paint all over the place. And since most people feel the need to empty their paint can before leaving, the paint tends to drip from the surface like miniature stalactites. It was an interesting stop but be careful to not be downwind of one of the artists!

Underside of Car is Unrecognizable

Miniature Paint Stalactites

We had planned our day to have the next stop be midafternoon with the hopes of beating the crowds. On the drive from Oklahoma to Amarillo we had seen countless signs about a steakhouse called the Big Texan. Just about every one of these signs was advertising their “free” 72 oz steak dinner. Of course there’s no such thing as a free lunch. The trick with this meal is that people willing to take the challenge are put at a table for about 6 people up on a stage in the center of the restaurant and overhead are 6 digital timers that will start at 60 minutes and count down to zero. The wait staff will introduce you to the rest of the restaurant patrons who will cheer for the new contestant and will serve your meal which includes: shrimp cocktail, baked potato, salad, roll and butter and of course the steak - 4.5 pounds of meat! We arrived to find the place quite busy but not so much that we had to wait long to be seated.

Sign Greets Hungry Travelers

Big Beef

Our seats were right below the stage where the contestants were chowing down. At first I wasn’t pleased with the seating since it was just several long tables with multiple couples or groups all seated side by side. But as we ordered, watched the contestants and chat with our neighbors, it turned out to be an excellent location. I wouldn’t consider it a romantic dinner place, but I might argue this is less of a restaurant and more of an event that happens to serve food. When we first sat down, there were 4 people taking the challenge. None of them seemed to be the type of person I might expect.

4 Visitors Take the 72 Oz Challenge

There was a mother, father and son sitting on one side of us and I was noticing that they were commenting about one of the participants. We got to talking and it turned out the young woman sitting at the far end was their 14 year old daughter. They apparently were traveling through the area and had seen the signs. She said she wanted to try it and the parents said sure. We got a little more of a scoop from them. The meal costs $72 and if you don’t finish everything on your plate you can still get a doggy bag for the leftovers.  When a new couple was introduced, I went up before they had really started to eat to get an idea of just how big a 72 oz steak is - it’s huge!

Those are HUGE Steaks

Two Levels of Dining

We had more sane size steaks - a 12 oz ribeye and 10 oz prime rib. Even those proved to be more than we could eat in one sitting. After dinner, we checked out some of the other places inside the building. The desert bar looked really good but we weren’t even tempted to pick up a cake or pie.

Chris Does Her Lily Tomlin as Edith Ann

One last stop after dinner was to the Slug Bug Ranch about a mile west of the Big Texan. This place seems to be a blatant attempt to copy Cadillac Ranch but using Volkswagen Beetles. This “art” installation was originally built in Conway Texas about 25 miles east of Amarillo in 2002. But in 2023, the Bugs were moved to the current location and a few of the retired Big Texan limousines are also buried with them.

VW Bugs Burrow in to Ground

Old Limos

Just like its predecessor, this place encourages spray painting of the cars however there is no trailer selling paint so you must come prepared. This was not nearly as crowded but this meant there was less chance of getting an inadvertent coat of paint as we walk around. The other notable thing is these cars are still recognizable as VW Bugs. Who knows if that will be the case in a decade or two.

A Fitting Hood Ornament for Texas

These days of well over 90 degrees were limiting how much we were willing to do outside. The following day we decided to head north with the main intention of finding geocaches in a couple of counties about 40 miles in that direction. While searching for anything else to see or do up there, we stumbled upon Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument. There doesn’t appear to be much to this National Monument but it will just be a few mile detour from our intended route. Some of the more interesting things to see are near the old quarries but these locations are off limits it’s to visitors except for times when a ranger does a guided tour. According to the website, there was to be a tour that Monday morning. So we get up early to drive there in time to get in on the tour.

Entrance Sign at Alibates Flint Quarries NM

Painted Rock at Entrance Sign

Visitor Center

This is a desolate portion of Texas and with the high speed limits on most roads in the state, we arrived well before the tour was to start. Unfortunately the ranger told us he had two employees call out sick so he was there himself and there wasn’t going to be a tour today, but did expect to have one tomorrow. Oh well, at least we were able to stamp our NP Passport book with another national monument. There is a short walk around the visitor center with a few things to see.

Flint Samples

Short Trail at Visitor Center

Teepee

The ranger had said we could drive out to the place where a gate blocks the road. There were a few viewpoints along the 2 miles or so but it was hardly worth the effort.

Lake Meredith in Distance

Since we hadn’t spent much time at Alibates, we headed to Lake Meredith to try out a short hike that will hopefully allow us to get a geocache in one of the two counties. The South Turkey Creek Trail goes along the southern shore of the lake for quite some distance. We will only need to go out 2/3 mile to reach the cache. There are several federal primitive campsites in this part of the park and there were several people out enjoying the lake.

Shore of Lake Meredith

The trail was in fairly good shape with a few rocky stretches. There were some trees blooming that we weren’t familiar with. But we had good enough cell coverage to use the app to find out these are salt cedar trees.

Salt Cedar Blooms

Rocky Hills Along Trail

We made it to the cache location and found it after a short search. It was about lunchtime and starting to get pretty hot. So instead of continuing on a pretty hike, we headed back to the car and find a shaded picnic table to eat the lunch we had brought along.

Lake View

Vibrant Cactus Bloom

We only needed to drive a few miles to cross the county line and get to a small park in the town of Fritch. For all we know there might be more to see around here but we weren’t in the mood to explore much because of the heat. It’s about an hour drive back to the Elks Lodge where we try to chill in the motorhome with the AC running full blast.

For our last full day in Amarillo, we head south to Palo Duro Canyon State Park. The temperature was only forecast to be in the upper 80’s by mid afternoon but the morning low was about 65. We generally don’t like to set an alarm, but this seemed like an appropriate day to get up early and drive down to the state park with the hope of getting an early start to a hike and possibly beat the worst part of the heat. We succeeded in getting into the park early. We stopped at the overlook by the visitor center before 8 AM and took in the great views of the canyon below. We definitely didn’t realize there was such a beautiful place in northern Texas.

Incredible View at Palo Duro Canyon

Selfie Time

There are well over a dozen trails within the park ranging in length from a half mile to ten miles and I suppose you could combine some of them for even a longer hike. By far, it seems like the most popular hike is the Lighthouse Trail. It’s an out and back hike just over 6 miles with a little more than 500 feet of elevation gain. We almost went for this one but it sounds like there is practically no shade so it might be a poor choice on a hot day. It sounds like the park actually closes some trails when the temperature gets above some threshold. After a bit of research, we settled on combining a couple of different trails into a loop starting out on the Rock Garden Trail.

Almost all of the hiking trails are down inside the canyon. It’s about an 8 mile drive down into the canyon to the far end of the park. There is a mile long stretch where the road drops 500 feet so it is a steep road with lots of switchbacks. But the road is paved and two lanes so it isn’t all that bad. We stop at one of the picnic areas for a bathroom break before our hike. As we pulled into a parking space, there was a wild turkey right along the edge of the lot. I assumed that when we got out of the car, it would be scared off but it didn’t seem to be bothered by us being 15 feet away.

Fearless Turkey

We continue to the trailhead and find lots of low places along the road that include the measuring sign that shows how high the water is above the pavement. There were plenty of puddles along the side of the road and it appeared that a skid steer had recently scraped back mud that had covered the road. Fortunately, it had dried out enough to safely park without sinking into the mud and there was no forecast for rain today so the car isn’t likely to be swept away. We gear up and hit the trail at 8:30 with a temperature of 72 degrees based on the thermometer at the trailhead.

Rock Garden Trailhead

The trail was in great shape although bit rocky in spots. We have several geocaches to look for on our way up the trail. In fact, there are likely 100 or more caches along numerous trails all throughout the park. Boy, if we had been able to camp here, we could have hit the trails even earlier and found a few dozen caches. We will have to settle for our single day trip into the park.  As the trail heads up in elevation, the views of the surrounding canyon start to show up. I still find it hard to believe this place is in Texas.

Along Rock Garden Trail

View Across Valley

View Up the Valley

Just before we get to the 1 mile point having climbed over 300 feet, we cross the Lower Comanche Trail. We intend to take this trail as part of our loop, but we continue up Rock Garden for another third of a mile. We knew there were a few more geocaches up there plus we understood there were some great lookout points a bit further up.

Rocky Ascent

View from Overlook

We found a nice spot to sit down and have a snack while enjoying the views made possible by the 450 foot climb. This trail continues on and there are even more geocaches to be found along it, but we have our plan and adding more mileage this early on might be a problem. We head back down to the Lower Comanche Trail and head east.

If we follow this for about 2 miles, we should end up over by one of the campgrounds and back near the main park road. There were some cool rock formations along the way and since this part of the hike was generally downhill, we really enjoyed it.

Campground in the Distance

Colorful Rock Layers

Precarious Looking Caprock

We take advantage of the restroom facilities at the campground before crossing the road to look for the Cottonwood Trail. There were a couple of old stone buildings that almost looked like they might be rentals for staying in the park? We follow the trail which mainly follows the river running through the park. It’s about 1.25 miles before we are near where we parked and we can cut over to the road to make it back to the starting of our loop. It came in at 5.3 miles and just over 1000 feet of elevation gain and was just before noon, now with a temperature of 86 degrees.

Rental Cabin?

We hopped in the car and found a shady spot in a picnic area to park. While they had tables, we opted to sit in the running car trying to cool back off after our hike while we had lunch. After we finished, we felt we might have just a bit more energy left so we drive to the parking area by the Rojo Grande Trail. There are numerous trails that start out of here. We cobble together portions of the Juniper Cliffside Trail and Rojo Grande Trail to make a 1.75 mile loop and 3 more geocaches.

More Rock Layers

Closeup Look of Layers

The first portion was nothing special but it turned out that the Rojo Grande Trail was quite interesting with neat rock formations along the way. When we made it back to the parking lot, I noticed that this trailhead thermometer read 91 degrees.

Red's Rock

Pretty Hike on Rojo Grande Trail

Opossum Tracks and Dog or Coyote?

We were pretty well wiped out and only had the energy to checkout the visitor center since it should be open by now. This is a really neat old stone building from the CCC days. There are numerous displays inside as well as a large gift shop with a fair amount of Native American crafts for sale. We head out of the parking area feeling accomplished and wishing we could come back for more - but maybe in a cooler part of the year. We stopped in the nearby town of Canyon for some well deserved ice cream at a place called Braums which we found to have great sundaes.

Visitor Center

Nice View of Canyon Below

Back at the Elks Lodge, we will chill out some more, get a good nights sleep before we head into New Mexico for nearly 6 weeks.