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The vast flatness of the plain in the Texas panhandle near Amarillo is impressive enough, but to then see the immense chasm in the midst of it is a great surprise. The Texas panhandle is a hundred miles or so north of Big Bend. The land is a rolling plain with very few topographical features. However, along a narrow paved road east of the city of Canyon (just south of Amarillo), the plain drops away suddenly into this canyon. There is a dramatic contrast between the flat, featureless plain above and the rugged canyon below. A paved road leads on from this overlook into camp sites in the canyon and several hiking trails branch out to various sites within the canyon.
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This photo was made on an earlier visit. During this visit I was confined to the bus during most of the tour and the following photos show the results of having been taken from a moving vehicle. Click on the smaller images to see a larger version.
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 When we got to the theater parking lot we were met by a young guide in a golf cart. He led us around the parking lot to the entrance and asked if we wanted to take a guided tour along the paved road in the park. We were anxious to get in line for the Bar-B-Que dinner, but decided that we had time for the tour. Sarah, a young lady just out of high school, got aboard to describe the canyon as we drove along. It was her first time (this was opening night for the theater) and she had some difficulty with the printed material she had, but she was so sweet, we all enjoyed having her with us for the tour.
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It was difficult to see the scenes and compose the photos from the moving bus, but there was no time to stop. There are areas where big rocks are just jumbled together. This area may be called the 'rock garden.' The rocks obviously had been displaced from their original location. I think they may have been in the layer that's visible near the top of the canyon wall in the other photo and settled to this level as softer layers were washed away. Our guide could only say that water had washed them to this location.
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The red rock layers are more beautiful than they appear in photos. Palo Duro Canyon should be visited over a several day period in order to see the scenes at diffirent times of the day. Palo Duro means "hard wood" according to the guide. The early Spanish explorers were impressed by the quantity of mesquite and other hardwood trees in the canyon.
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Our tour didn't last long. We returned to the parking lot and I took the final photo from there. The previous scenes were lit by the setting sun. This one was mostly in the shade and the difference in color rendition in the photo is obvious.
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Sarah posed with my wife when we exited the bus.
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