This morning we took a three-hour drive south of Liberal, Kansas. It was another windy day, but driving was great when heading due south with a tailwind. The roadside grasses were full of cotton pieces from the cotton harvest as we crossed the Oklahoma panhandle into Texas. The terrain in Texas changes into scrubby hills and has lots of energy installations.

Our destination was Palo Duro Canyon State Park, described as the “Grand Canyon of Texas”. The weather warmed into the lower 60s as we drove. Our campsite is in the Sagebrush area.

A late afternoon hike along the Kiowa Trail that follows the Prairie Dog Town Fork of the Red River, gave us a close-up view of the beautiful 250-million-year-old red rock formation that colors the water and gives the river its descriptive name. We managed a three-mile round trip hike before sunset.