We went on a couple of more hikes on our second day at Palo Duro State Park. The Big Cave is a featured spot on the trail map. It’s really a percolation cave where water has found a way through softer rock, so there is a hole in the cave roof. We accessed this from a combination of the two Juniper trails.

The visitors center has a nice overlook and a narrow road down to the center/museum. We parked up at the top rather than maneuver Usain to the bottom; it’s just a short walk down.

For the final morning of our third day in the park, we hiked the Givens, Spicer, Lowry trail out to another interesting rock formation and amazing scenery. The gray caprock that we see at the top of the canyon and on top of these rock stacks is a hard, erosion-resistant layer of sandstone. It’s like an umbrella protecting the softer layers of red sandstone and shale from eroding away. What a beautiful canyon!

We talked with one local couple out on this trail, and they were amazed by the unusually nice weather conditions. Highs in the 40s and some trace amounts of snow are more the norm for the Texas Panhandle in late December. We enjoyed our three-nights stay, and have more hikes to do if we return in the future.