Next Stop.....Caprock Canyon State Park

We headed out the next morning on our way to Caprock Canyon State Park near Quitaque Texas. We took the back roads with the scenic trail markings from Ballinger to Quitaque. Carolyn was a little worried about getting diesel along the way. No problem I said.......most of the ranchers have diesel trucks as well as the oil field workers. Ah, hmmmm. she has to fill her diesel truck twice to every fill Mary Jane and I do because her truck has a 25 gallon diesel tank versus the 55 gallon gas tanks in our Phoenix Cruisers. Even I began to worry a bit when we were about 3/4 of the way there. It wasn't so much that the gas stations didn't carry diesel as that a lot of the small towns didn't have a gas station at all. That was a real surprise. Now Carolyn is pretty smart and always prepared so she had 5 gallons of diesel in containers in the back of the truck. Fortunately, we never had to use that last ditch save.

We didn't have reservations so we checked for a private park in Quitaque but that was a no go. We headed into  Caprock Canyon thinking the office might already be closed in which case we would boondock in the parking lot. Due to two open sites and one cancellation, the office got us into spots without a problem.

Many of the sites at Caprock are kind of unique because they are a shaped a bit like a piece of pie with a narrow opening which opens into a wide spot. There are a lot of trees and bushes so you may hear a neighbor outside but not see them.  It is a nice setup.

There are lots of critters at Caprock including a large prairie dog community.

Caprock Canyon is at the other end of the more well known Palo Duro Canyon. Once we were set up, we headed out to see the rest of the park since Mary Jane and Carolyn had never been there.

It is a desert type area and the park has a lot of information about the area as well as the history.

Carolyn found wildflowers. There were quite a few of these.

The cacti have already bloomed but they are still colorful.

We were in the RV campground with water and electric but we checked out all of the other campgrounds for tenters as well.

A lot of historical and geological information is available all over the park.

Erosion plays a big part in the sculpturing of the area.

Of course, this is why we were really here. Caprock Canyon is the home of the Texas Bison herd.  The heard actually started back when hunting bison was huge. they interfered with ranchers cattle as well as being hunted for sport. Mary Ann Goodnight, wife of legendary Charles Goodnight, became concerned because the bison were being hunted to the point of extinction. She convinced her husband to help her save the orphaned baby bison. Soon they had a herd. Eventually that herd was deeded to the state of Texas.

Carolyn took all these photos from the safety of the car windows.

They were close to the car but we stopped and didn't move as they lumbered past us. They roam freely throughout the park so you never know when you might get the chance to see them. On a previous trip, my son and grandson waited out the bison moving through the area by staying near the safety of the restrooms.

The park has some very interesting  sculptures.

Interesting to know that people were camping in this same area 12,000 years ago.

That evening, we attended a presentation given by a park ranger and a professor from a nearby university about the moon and planets.

There was a slide show and then everyone got to check out Jupiter and other planets as well as the moon through some very large, very expensive telescopes theat the professor brought it. There was an event earlier in the day which we missed. It was to celebrate the Comanche Moon and there was dancing and storytelling by local Indians.

Home Sweet Home for the second night of our trip!