John and Sandy's RV Adventure Journal

John and Sandy's RV Adventure Journal

Tag Archive: Hiking

El Reno, OK

August 7, 2016 El Reno ,

We headed out for a scenic drive and a visit to Red Rock Canyon State Park. While in the park we stopped at the Rough Horsetail trail which is about a ¼ mile nature trail. We are definitely out of the desert and into the Midwest with trees, small creeks and ponds with water. We drove through the park after our hike and stopped at Gloria’s Kitchen for lunch. Now we were going to go home, but 2 casinos were on the way. These Oklahoma casinos all give you free play. We got home and stopped at both of the casino’s were staying at so we could get our 20.00 pp daily free play and had a couple beers.

Canyon TX

August 3, 2016 Canyon

We were back at Palo Duro State Park early afternoon. We stopped at the visitors center to get some info and go through the little museum about the history of the area. Now a short hike on the nature trail to the Prairie Dog river. We got to the river (no water) and then hiked back. This area was loaded with grasshoppers. Near the truck was a couple of roadrunners which posed for us and then took off.

Now we took the scenic drive through the park and stopped at various pullouts. We did go to one hike which took us to a cave on a cliff. John hiked all the way up. We stopped for a picnic and saw 3 turkeys. They let us get kinda close for pictures. We also saw a deer and rabbit. On the way home we stopped to take pictures of a herd of longhorn cattle. We enjoyed a cocktail outside and then grilled up some steaks.


Canyon TX

August 2, 2016 Canyon ,

   We have about 300 miles today to Canyon TX just south of Amarillo. We were on the road by 6am and all set up at Palo Duro RV Park and having lunch by 1pm (with a time change).

We decided to come to this area because of Palo Duro Canyon. It’s the 2nd largest canyon in the United States. It’s 120 miles long and over 800 feet deep. We thought about staying in the state park but it’s in the bottom of the canyon and it’s a steep 10% grade road with winding sharp curves and no phone or internet so we stayed a few miles outside the park with FHU, cell service, internet and tv. I know, we like our stuff.

Six nights a week they have an outdoor play in the canyon called “Texas”. We decided to go tonight and got our tickets online. The play starts at 830pm but we got to the park around 6pm. Stopped at one of the overlooks and it is a beautiful canyon. Not as big as the grand canyon, but more trees and bushes. We had brought a cooler with a few beers and enjoyed a few brews with a great view. Now we drove the road down into the canyon. Yes, we could have taken our rv down the road, but it would not have been fun. We checked out the campground and it had nice sites but that’s it. We took a short hike to a bird blind and saw a small rodent and various birds including a nice woodpecker.

We got to the amphitheater for the play and listened to a country band for a few minutes and then it was time to enter. Our seats were perfect. Center and a little bit up, row G. The play is about Texas and the story of change from the Indians to the cattlemen to farmers to when the railroad came through. It was about 2 hours long and really good. Beautiful setting in the canyon with the cliffs in the background.

There are over 60 actors and also over 10 horses and a donkey in the play. It is very well done and we would recommend it to anyone. There were over 800 people there and the farthest from Australia. They talked about rain in the play and had fake thunder, but there was real lightning going on over the cliffs but no rain, so that was pretty cool. When we headed home up the canyon road we had to be real careful. It was so dark and late. Around one sharp turn a deer crossed right in front of us. We had a great time at the play “Texas” at Palo Duro State Park.

 

Paraje NM

July 30, 2016 Paraje , ,

       Today is another drive day. We explored the East side of El Malpais Natl Monument. We stopped at the Sandstone overlook and then at the Arch. There was a 1 mile hike inland toward the arch we took. This area is just so open and beautiful with the sandstone cliffs and lava rocks all around. We stopped at the Rim trail and John did about 1 mile round trip. I stayed back because the beginning of the hike was a steep climb up uneven rocks.
       Now we headed back but stopped at Sky City Casino for a while. We got home and finished our pre-departure day stuff. I walked next door to our casino Dancing Eagle for a while.