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Category: 2021

Palo Duro Canyon, TX

Palo Duro Canyon, TX

Palo Duro Canyon is about 14 miles east of the city of Canyon Texas. The Canyon is sometimes called the Grand Canyon of Texas and it is the second largest canyon in North America behind the Grand Canyon. The park itself consists of 27,173 acres originally deeded by private land owners in 1933 and built into a State Park by the Civilian Conservation Corps from 1933 to 1937. Although much work remained to be done, the park officially opened on July 4, 1934.

Palo Duro Canyon is a place where erosion shapes the land, four bioregions intersect, cultures have met and clashed and change is the only constant. The majestic beauty of the canyon takes time to appreciate. The sights and sounds here are lost in most urban settings. The canyon is one of the most beautiful and majestic areas within Texas. The canyon is approximately 120 miles long and 600 to 800 feet deep. The canyon was formed less than 1 million years ago when an ancient river first carved its way through the Southern High Plains. The rocks expose a geologic story that began approximately 250 million years ago, layer by layer revealing a panoramic view of magnificent color. People are believed to have lived in the area for about 12,000 years.

jerry
Clayton, NM

Clayton, NM

This was a one night stop on the way from Colorado to Texas. Although Clayton has some restaurants, a few small stores, a small museum, and some truck stops (Love’s was great with the TSD fuel card and we saved about 20 cents per gallon); there just isn’t much more there.

Park Review – Coyote Keeth’s RV Park

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Site Quality / Amenities: Gravel roads and pads. Large amount of space between each site. There are restrooms with showers but no other amenities.
Type: Commercial Park
Access: Right off of US-87 on the south east side Clayton, NM
Staff: We didn’t have any interaction with staff at the park except for the camp host in our loop. He was friendly and helpful.
Cellular/Wi-Fi: Verizon was fast at about 76 Mbps.
Restaurants: We didn’t eat out while we were there.
Nearby parks: We didn’t check out any other parks in the area.
What we liked: The sites were wide and just long enough to stay hooked up for a quick departure the next day. There is a good amount of room between each site.
What we didn’t like: There is a train track across US-87 but they didn’t use their horns and noise was minimal. It was very windy the night we arrived but that isn’t unusual for the area.
Verdict: Great place for an overnight stop but not much more as there just isn’t much there.

Cheyenne Mountain State Park, Colorado Springs, CO

Cheyenne Mountain State Park, Colorado Springs, CO

We stayed here in mid-October for a week to visit our son Matthew and grandson Anders. Because the primary reason for this stop was to see family, we didn’t do a lot of exploring in the area. As might have been expected we had a few warm days followed by some heavy snow that didn’t stick and then some cooler days and nights. We plan to return when we can enjoy being outside more to enjoy the views.

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Gering (Scotts Bluff), NE

Gering (Scotts Bluff), NE

Scotts Bluff and Gering are two towns in south western Nebraska with the main draw for tourists here being the Oregon and California emigration trails along with the Pony Express going through the area as our nation grew westward in the mid-1800’s. The bluff that sits here, Scotts Bluff (as opposed to the town of Scotts Bluff) was a major landmark in the area used by emigrants while navigating the trails through Mitchell Pass. Scotts Bluff was named for Hiram Scott, an employee of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, who died in the vicinity of the bluff in 1826 after being abandoned by his companions after becoming ill.

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Hill City, SD

Hill City, SD

We spent a week near Hill City primarily to see Mount Rushmore and to visit a few of the nearby towns. As you will soon find out, we didn’t even know about Custer State Park when we did our original planning but we’re sure glad we were tipped off to it when someone found out we were going to be in the area. We were sure glad we didn’t miss it as we took more pictures there than anywhere else. The featured image at the top of this post is of Sylvan Lake within the park and is one of my favorite pictures of all time. The beauty in this part of South Dakota is just unbelievable!

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