Back to Palo Duro Canyon
On May 14th we visited Palo Duro Canyon in the northern part of Texas known as the Panhandle.
After the Grand Canyon, Palo Duro is the next largest canyon in the United States.
Our previous visit had been in October 2022, a quarter of a century after our first foray there.
What had taken so long for a return, I don’t know, but we didn’t make that mistake again.
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Orwellianism of the week
© 2024 Steven Schwartzman
Portraits of Wildflowers 
Thank you, Steve, for the stunning photos of the canyon Palo Duro!
And the other news sounds like our nonsense here!
Joanna
gabychops
May 25, 2024 at 5:30 AM
As scenic as Palo Duro Canyon is, I get the impression that not many people outside Texas know about it.
The ERV (Euphemistic Renaming Virus) seems to have infected all the countries in the Anglosphere. No recent year has passed without new strains of the virus emerging.
Steve Schwartzman
May 25, 2024 at 6:56 AM
You were right, Steve, to show the canyon, as I was unfamiliar with its beauty! The virus spreads like a proverbial fire, and we just have to regrettably live with it!
Joanna
gabychops
May 25, 2024 at 7:03 AM
I’ve studied language for most of my life. In recent decades I’ve felt obliged to point out abuses, particularly those that are intended to manipulate how people think and feel.
Steve Schwartzman
May 25, 2024 at 7:20 AM
We don’t need to think or do what they want, just live with it!
Joanna
gabychops
May 25, 2024 at 7:38 AM
The attempts at ideological manipulation of our language have moved me to do more than live with them; I now often speak out against them.
Steve Schwartzman
May 25, 2024 at 7:44 AM
You can, Steve, because you have a voice!
Joanna
gabychops
May 25, 2024 at 7:46 AM
It looks like a neat place to explore. Thanks for taking us along via your images.
circadianreflections
May 25, 2024 at 7:35 AM
You’re welcome. Palo Duro Canyon is more like places in your part of the country than in much of the rest of Texas.
Steve Schwartzman
May 25, 2024 at 7:41 AM
I so wanted to visit there on one of my trips to Austin but I never got the opportunity. If you can, you could visit more often.
oneowner
May 25, 2024 at 10:16 AM
This was my “more often,” as we’d been there only a year and a half earlier after not having visited Palo Duro for at least a couple of decades. I do hope you’ll make it there on your next trip to Texas.
Steve Schwartzman
May 25, 2024 at 4:00 PM
Beautiful !
silversal24
May 25, 2024 at 1:49 PM
It’s an impressive place for rugged landscapes, and different from most of the rest of Texas.
Steve Schwartzman
May 25, 2024 at 6:28 PM
Outstanding photographs!
One of our deepest regrets from our time living in Texas is we never made it to Palo Duro. Our best friends kept insisting we go but circumstances kept intervening.
Your beautiful images will suffice.
Wally Jones
May 25, 2024 at 3:51 PM
Thanks. I still hope these (and forthcoming) images won’t suffice for you and that you’ll make it to Palo Duro Canyon one of these days. You’d get two for the price of one, with relatively close Caprock Canyons State Park easily visitable on the same trip.
Steve Schwartzman
May 25, 2024 at 4:02 PM
While looking up references to Palo Duro Canyon I came across this one about the filming of The Sundowners ( 1950 ). https://gov.texas.gov/film/trail/palo-duro-canyon-state-park#:~:text=Early%20Spanish%20explorers%20are%20believed,trees%20populating%20the%20open%20areas. Is that a film you have watched? I had a quick listen to Symphony No. 3, “Palo Duro Canyon” and then listened again while looking at your photos. They go well together.
Gallivanta
May 25, 2024 at 10:06 PM
I know of a film with that same title from 10 years later set in Australia. Now that you’ve alerted me to the earlier one, I’ll try to watch it. I also wasn’t aware of the Palo Duro Canyon Symphony, which I’ll listen to. Thanks for two leads in one comment.
Steve Schwartzman
May 25, 2024 at 10:29 PM
Geographically, the place is fascinating. Photographically, the contrast between the rocks and the sky is stunning. The simplicity of some of the large and creatively eroded cliffs really appealed to me when I was there. I’d love to go back, although at this point waiting until autumn would have two advantages: a larger travel kitty and lower tempertures.
shoreacres
May 26, 2024 at 7:07 AM
Still another advantage of going later in the year is the possibility of fall foliage. You may remember the soapberry trees I showed from October 20, 2022.
Steve Schwartzman
May 26, 2024 at 8:08 AM
When you do go to Palo Duro, you mustn’t fail to visit Caprock Canyons State Park as well, which lies about 100 miles to the southeast and is a geological fantasyland of its own that’s also home to bison and prairie dogs. I’ll have upcoming posts about those things to whet your appetite.
Steve Schwartzman
May 26, 2024 at 8:16 AM
I know several nature photographers in Austin who often go to Big Bend and lament the blue sky they almost always get there; they’d much prefer dramatic clouds. I’m with you, though, in appreciating how well a bright blue sky contrasts with the orange-brown hues of the rocks and earth at Palo Duro Canyon.
Steve Schwartzman
May 26, 2024 at 8:13 AM
I love these mountain photos. These formations look like giant man-made sculptures, especially the one with a ‘sphinx’ on top of the pinnacle.
Peter Klopp
May 28, 2024 at 9:43 AM
You have the fantastic Canadian Rockies, which we were thrilled to visit in 2017. Now you have a reason to reverse our direction and come see some formidable geology in Texas. The structure in the second picture that you likened to a sphinx is called a hoodoo.
Steve Schwartzman
May 28, 2024 at 9:57 AM