- Website link: Palo Duro Canyon State Park
- Cost: $8.00 per day per adult – free for children 12 and under
- Tent and RV camping, cabins – various fees
- Hiking on trails and backcountry, biking, backpacking, seasonal horseback riding stable or bring your own horse – equestrian campground available
- Visitor center/museum
- Nature interpretive center
- Trading post with gasoline, fast food, groceries
- Large group/event pavillions
- Summer musical “Texas” in the amphitheater and catered dinner available
- Wildlife watching/birding
- Additional accommodations/restaurants in Canyon, Texas and Amarillo, Texas (see our Amarillo post)

Our favorite place to camp, Palo Duro Canyon State Park is the crown jewel of the Texas park system. That’s our opinion, anyway. The canyon is not only breathtakingly beautiful, it is the second largest canyon in the US. The name Palo Duro comes from the Spanish phrase meaning “hard wood”. The park is located about 30 minutes south and east of Amarillo, Texas. The sun was in the right place at the right time for this shot. That usually doesn’t happen for us – we just got lucky this time. No filters. Look at those spectacular colors!
Highlights…



The summer musical “Texas” has been performed at the Pioneer Amphitheatre since 1966! The production features outstanding music, singing, dancing, and special effects, all while telling the story of ranching in the Texas Panhandle in the late 1800s. “Texas” is a treat for the entire family. Tickets can be ordered online.

Hiking Palo Duro…
Lighthouse Trail, the most popular hike in the park, is just under six miles round trip, and it’s our favorite! Below are some scenes from Lighthouse Trail.





Palo Duro has many miles of trails with varying levels of difficulty. Some trails are multi-use, some are for hiking only, and some are for biking only. Mountain biking is very popular in this park. Check the website for all trail details.
Wildlife…



Campgrounds and cabins…



Palo Duro Canyon has several campgrounds for tent and RV camping, day use areas, and an equestrian campground. This park is also pet friendly, but pets must be kept on a leash and are not allowed in the park buildings. See the website for details and reservation information.
Cool stuff nearby…





Parting shots…





Well, that covers our overview of Palo Duro Canyon State Park, folks. Please join us next time for another great road trip, and become a follower so you never miss a post!
Travel safe, travel smart, and we will see you down the road.
Mike and Kellye
As always, we strive to be as accurate with our information as possible. If we made a mistake, it was unintentional. (Hey, we’re only human!) We aren’t paid for our recommendations, and we only recommend our own tried and true vendors and venues. Our suggestions are for places that we’ve heard good things about but haven’t visited personally, and our opinions are our own.
©2019
Mike and Kellye, this is absolutely fabulous, “top notch “and very well written with great photographs. Thank you for sharing, I always look forward to your next chapter.
Susan, thank you for the nice comments. We are constantly evolving, so we hope that each post is better than the last. Thanks so much for reading!!!
I am a nature lover and like visiting national parks and state parks. Your post and lovely pics made me add Palo Duro Canyon State Park to my travel list.
Thank you so much! We would love to have you come visit Texas. Palo Duro Canyon is pretty special. Happy travels!