I planned this trip a little hastily when Marilou mentioned she had a former classmate living in Amarillo that she would like to visit. At first I said no because
it was going to be a 10 hour drive. After I researched some hike potentials in the area I relented and started to plan the trip. I reserved the Hilton Garden Inn for three
nights hoping to hike, Friday and Saturday, then drive back on Sunday. We arrived pretty tired on Thursday, so ate something at the hotel, and arranged to do
breakfast at Elsa Aboytes house the next morning.
Friday, December 10th :
We found Elsa's house easily. She made me a huge bowl of oatmeal with walnuts as well as some eggs etc. Marilou and her talked most of the morning about old classmates, etc.
I could tell from the leaves blowing by that it was getting pretty windy, but around 10 I mentioned we should go to get our first hike done that day. When I stopped
at the gas station to fill up, the wind nearly knocked me over, so we decided to spend that afternoon at the hotel pool. I later heard the gusts were over 50 mph and
the sustained winds were around 35 mph.
Saturday, December 11th :
Had another good breakfast at Elsa's house and the two of them somehow found more people to talk about. Since I was hoping to do both hikes and still get
back for 5 o'clock mass I cut them off and we headed for Palo Duro Canyon State Park. This was a more perfect day with the sun shining and minimal winds.
That was a good thing because our first hike on the CCC trail followed along the ridge and with yesterday's winds it could have been a little perilous.
Even without the winds, Marilou, was a little shaken by the height looking over the ridges and having to watch your step over the rocks got her a little
tipsy.
We cut the walk short and spent a little time recovering at the El Coronado Lodge and visitor's center. It was originally built as a CCC project in
1934. There were some good views through the huge windows. The interpretive center had a big display that identified the age of the various rock layers
in the park.
Then we headed out to find some of the other trails. The map includes so many options and where you are now isn't
well marked on the road (or I was too busy to match signs to the map), anyway I drove until we came to parking place for multiple trails. About four different trails
started the same place, but the starts weren't well labeled. I thought I was going on the Paseo Del Rio trail, which would be following the river,
but soon it turned away from the river and went into an
area with interesting rock formations. Marilou stayed at the car. I followed the trail for a little over a mile. I met a ranger on the way out, and saw him
again back near the starting point. We talked awhile on the way back. At the parking area I asked him what trail we were on and pointed out that we had been on the
Givens, Spicer, Lowry trail. I took a photo of the signage to remind me which one we were on.
When I got back to the car Marilou was napping. We had to get back for mass so that we could leave early on Sunday. We drove through most of the park with
occasional stops to view the terrain. Before heading back to the hotel and getting ready for mass.
We then attended the 5:00 o'clock mass at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church with Elsa. Afterward, Marilou treated us to Red Lobster dinner.
Links:
Hilton Garden Inn
Palo Duro Canyon State Park
St Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church
Red Lobster, Amarillo
