Palo Duro Canyon map
34.94° N · 101.66° W · Randall County, near Canyon · up to 800 ft deep
Palo Duro is the second-largest canyon in the United States: roughly 120 miles long, several miles wide in places and as much as 800 feet deep. From the flat Panhandle grassland above you see nothing until you are almost at the rim, which is exactly how it takes visitors by surprise.
Centered on the state park inside the canyon. The road entering from the northwest is SH-217 from the town of Canyon; the flat ground on both sides is the Llano Estacado.
Where it is and how to get there
The state park entrance is about 25 miles from Amarillo: south on I-27 to the Canyon exits, then east on SH-217 for roughly 12 miles. SH-217 runs through the town of Canyon, where West Texas A&M University and the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum sit, and ends at the park gate. Coming from the east, FM-1258 and SH-207 reach the same corner of the canyon from Claude in Armstrong County; SH-207 crosses the canyon north of the park on a spectacular stretch of road with no services.
From Lubbock the drive is about 140 miles north on I-27 and SH-217. From Dalhart or the Oklahoma line, allow an extra hour beyond Amarillo. The canyon itself continues southeast well past the park boundary across private ranch land, so the state park is the only public access of any size.
Down into the canyon
Almost every other canyon park keeps you on the rim. Here the road goes in. From the entrance the pavement drops several hundred feet through tight switchbacks cut by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s, then runs about eight miles along the canyon floor beside the Prairie Dog Town Fork of the Red River, crossing it several times on low-water slabs. Those crossings are the reason the road closes after heavy rain: the river is usually a trickle and occasionally is not.
The rock stack is easy to read from the floor. Red Spanish Skirts mudstone forms the lower slopes, a white gypsum band runs through the middle, and harder caprock holds up the rim. Erosion of the soft layers under the hard ones is what produces the hoodoos, including the Lighthouse.
| Feature | Where | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Rim and visitor centre | Entrance, top of the descent | CCC-built stone building on the edge with the first full view; interpretive exhibits and the overlook |
| The switchbacks | First mile inside the gate | Steep grade with tight turns and pullouts; trailers and large RVs need care |
| Canyon floor road | About 8 miles to the far end | Follows the Prairie Dog Town Fork with several low-water crossings and the campgrounds strung along it |
| Lighthouse Trail | Trailhead midway along the floor road | Roughly 6 miles round trip on mostly level ground with a steep scramble at the end, to the free-standing rock column that is the canyon's emblem |
| Pioneer Amphitheater | Floor, against the canyon wall | Outdoor theatre used since the 1960s for the summer musical TEXAS, with the cliff as its backdrop |
| CCC cabins | Rim and floor | Stone cabins built in the 1930s, still rented; among the oldest state park structures in Texas |
| Rock Garden and Givens, Spicer & Lowry trails | North and east walls | Climbing routes up the canyon side with longer views back across the floor |
What happened here
Palo Duro was the last stronghold of the southern Plains tribes. In September 1874 a US cavalry column under Ranald Mackenzie descended into the canyon, destroyed the winter camps and shot the captured horse herd, ending organised resistance in the Red River War. Two years later Charles Goodnight drove cattle into the same canyon and founded the JA Ranch, using the walls as a natural corral. The state bought the upper end in the early 1930s and opened it as a park in 1934.
Nearby
Canyon is 12 miles west; Amarillo, with the nearest airport and the I-40 corridor, is 25 miles north. Caprock Canyons State Park, on the same escarpment about 100 miles southeast in Briscoe County, is the other place the Llano Estacado breaks open. Potter and Swisher counties flank Randall to the north and south.