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| Palo Duro Canyon sneaks up on you! As you drive eastward
from Interstate 27, the High Plains spread to the horizon on either
side of Highway 217. And, just before entering the Park, some hint
of what is to come is seen in a small side canyon, Timbercreek Canyon,
to the right (south) of the highway where ledges of caliche lie over
steep- walled cliffs of Ogallala sandstone. But, it is not until you
have paid your entrance fee and driven to the overlook that Palo Duro
Canyon's size, depth, and color suddenly appear before you. |
The Lighthouse |
| The topography of the canyon is especially important
to weather forecasters. When moisture from the Gulf of Mexico returns
to the higher elevations of the Texas Panhandle, the moisture rises
about 1,000 feet as it gets funneled between the canyon walls from
southern Armstrong County to the entrance of Palo Duro Canyon State
Park. The exact extent of this phenomina requires further investigation.
The canyon is highly suspected as a moisture route and its impact
on the regions precipitation and fog climatology remains a mystery.
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| Palo Duro means "hard wood" in Spanish, named for
the canyon's junipers from which Indians made their "hardwood" bows.
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| Before becoming a state park, Palo Duro Canyon
had a rich history, including 12,000 years of Indian occupation.
The Spanish explorer Coronado saw the canyon in 1541, and while
leading a U.S. army expedition, Captain Randolph Marcy wrote admiringly
of it in 1852. The Battle of Palo Duro Canyon in 1874 pitted Colonel
Ranald Mackenzie's troops against Comanche warriors, ending the
so-called Red River War. Only two years later, Charles Goodnight,
famous for spearheading Texas-Wyoming cattle drives, began his JA
Ranch operation in the canyon. Panhandle citizens' interest in Palo
Duro Canyon as a recreation and picnic area led to a failed attempt
to make it a National Park, but succeeded in the creation of the
crown jewel of the Texas State Park System in 1934. |
| For more information visit the
Palo Duro Canyon web site. |
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www.weather.gov 
National Weather Service Forecast Office
