Palo Duro Canyon, Texas

This is the beginning of my long awaited southwestern trip that should take me through a minimum of six states and quite a variety of landscapes and vistas.  I deliberately selected Amarillo to be my first stop because I recently discovered Palo Duro State Park which is located just 25 miles south.

I got up early on day two to be one of the first at the entrance gate.  I wanted to see as much as possible in the few hours that were allotted before I had to continue my journey.  The ranger spotted my bike and asked if I was planning on doing some mountain biking, yes I said and quickly added a request for the least challenging trail in the park.  I was told that would be Lighthouse trail and how to get there.  Jazzed for a good ride on a glorious day I hurried along to find the parking lot.  Along the way I was mesmerized by the canyons, red rocks and abundance of trees and other greenery.  This is a pretty well-kept secret...a beautiful canyon on par with the the Grand Canyon but on a much smaller scale and I had to do quite a bit of research before stumbling upon it.  I think I will be back in the not too distant future it is just too beautiful to see only once.

 I rode just a short distance and had to stop and get a couple of pictures.  The place is just so beautiful.  The trail started off nice and easy and shortly thereafter offered steep climbs, sharp turns and challenging drops.

I guess my lack of riding this year was very apparent when I approached a two foot drop and quickly looked for a way around.  Fortunately, there was a channel alongside for the chicken-hearted.  To my dismay, I somehow jammed my brakes mid-channel and went right over the handle-bars landing on my feet in a forward motion...if I had only kept running I would not have taken a front dive as if reaching for second base in a tight baseball play! So after only a few miles I decided that this was way too "risky behavior" for this early in the trip and decided to turn around and do a little walking instead.  It seemed the safest activity.  There is so much to see and do here that I will have to come back and spend four days or so to really be able to enjoy all it has to offer.