Sunday, July 15, 2018

Caprock Canyons, 7/9 - 7/11/2018

Scampsite # 12, we had a BISON wander through our site the first evening!!!  Fortunately the dogs were inside the trailer.  Caprock Canyons is home to the Texas state bison herd, which is descended from the original few Southern Plains bison that Charles Goodnight (the rancher and cattle driver for whom the Goodnight Trail is named) saved upon realizing that white folks were exterminating the bison.  Because they've been isolated from other bison herds, these are among the last of the Southern Plains bison in the country. 
Caprock Canyons is an amazing park.  There are TONS of trails, easily accessible from the campgrounds and it's close to the 62-mile dirt Trailway (although the Trailway is NOT accessible from within the park).  Summer temperatures get over 100 easily, so we were warned to be back at camp by 2:00 at the latest and to carry 1 gallon of water per person and 1 gallon of water per animal.  We hiked the Wild Horse and Mesa Trails, both of which were lovely and perfectly challenging. There was even a remnant "pond" of water in the Little Red River near the windmill!
Lake Theo is in the middle of the park too - folks fish and boat there and can camp right next to the water, but the bison like the lake too.
There is also rough, dirt County Road 29, most of which goes through the eastern edge of the park, and which was tons of fun to drive.  4x4 vehicles strongly recommended for that one. 
There is a prairie dog colony near the Honey Flat camping area, but we didn't see any Burrowing Owls. 
Scampsite #12.

Prairie Dog.

Early morning view of the canyon.

Bison near the trail.

Bison at the bottom of the canyon, center left.

Dung Beetles take care of the immense amounts of bison poop.

The remnant "pond" along the trail.

Equestrian camping area.

Folsom site near Lake Theo.

The bison herd, or at least the cows and calves.

Our visitor.

4x4 County Road 29.

County Road 29, near and far. 

The pond by County Road 29.

Ha ha we love it when state parks have humor! 

More humor I think....Not sure I'd want to camp in the Overflow area...

Caprock Canyons is sort of midway between Lubbock and Amarillo, but not really close to either one.