Palo Duro Canyon State Park, Texas

We have just visited multiple national parks in New Mexico, Palo Duro Canyon State Park near Amarillo was the only Texas state park in our Christmas trip.

Palo Duro Canyon is the second largest canyon in the country (The largest one is the famous Grand Canyon). The park is huge and can be easily a multi-days visit. There are many trails but since we only have a day, we hiked the most popular trail to the iconic lighthouse. The entrance fee is $8 per adult and child 12 years and under is free.

The lighthouse trail is 2.8 miles one way. It requires some steep climbing at the end of the trail to the lighthouse. So it was about 6 miles round trip. That would be our longest hike with kids to date. From our previous experience, it would take about 4-5 hours for the entire journey.

We stopped by at the visitor center for a nice view.

We then bought our lunch at the Trading Post. We figured we would be having our lunch during our hike.

Live to hike another day. We agreed! Let's begin the hike. The lighthouse trail is a multiuse trail, which could be used for hiking, biking and horse riding. It was not crowded at all, which is one of the reason we love parks. Just relax and have good exercise and family time. The scenery was beautiful. Look at the different colors of the multi geologic layers!

The first 2.4 miles was a pretty easy hike as it was mostly flat. From there, it begins steeper slope. It was manageable at the beginning but there was one section where it got pretty steep with open edge. To make it worse, it was very windy on that section. Quite a few families (including adults) turned back right at this spot.

We were glad that we met a 70's year old couple earlier whom told us that they had climbed all the way to the lighthouse and got back. That have given us the inspiration to continue our hike despite the challenge. After that steep section which isn't that long, we saw the lighthouse!

We climbed up the lighthouse and we made it. success! It was quite windy as well on top of the lighthouse. But the scenery from there worth all the effort made! It was gorgoeus up there. We found a spot and sat there and enjoy the views and some snacks.

After a while, we started hiking back down. It was another challenge. Remember the crazy steep section? Yup, it was still very windy and climbing down wasn't easy (maybe mentally easier since we knew how long was the steep section). We saw few folks about to give up and we encouraged them to continue.

After the steep section with non-guarded edge, we let didi took back the lead. He has been trying to be the leader and hiking challenging slope is more fun for him.

Back to the lighthouse trail. Normal flat and easy relaxing long hike back. Weather gotten warmer and more gorgeous view. We felt that hiking in Texas during this time of the year (Decemeber) is nice. The weather is not hot makes it really enjoyable. Nevertheless, always bring plenty of water.

The kids made it to their longest hike to date! It took almost 4-5 hours, and this is only one trail.

We didn't know what to expect of Palo Duro Canyon State Park. We have been in quite a few National and State Parks, but this park has a lot of great landscape and views that we didn't think would exists in Texas (probably at places like Arizona). It surprised us and we highly recommend anyone checking out this park if you are in Texas.