About 20 miles south of Amarillo is the second-largest canyon in the United States, Palo Duro Canyon. It's 120 miles long, as much as 20 miles wide and 800 feet deep. To get there, you drive down a narrow, winding road into the canyon, where there are several places to park and many trails.
My co-worker Amber and I went on a long hike to the Lighthouse, a giant hoodoo. Here are the photos.
This is right when we entered the canyon. Note the power pole.
Turkeys!
This is at the trail head, but it's broken. It was in the mid-70s.
We begin our six-mile round-trip journey.
Clear blue skies.
A layer of mineral.
A little hoodoo. Not our destination.
Tall cliff. That's my co-worker.
Someone's got money.
As you can see, the canyon has many different looks.
I thought this was one of the coolest things on our hike.
Our destination is about two miles away.
Closer! Naw. I used a telephoto lens.
Arroyo
Some kind of canine was here.
Grasshopper
Getting closer.
We had to scale this steep wall.
The view's beautiful up there.
After scaling the wall, we get to flat ground.
Step 5 feet to the right and there it is.
It's called the Lighthouse.
Thumbs up.
A cliff next to the Lighthouse.
We turned around and checked out the view again.
The sun was setting, and we had about three miles to go back.
A final look at the Lighthouse.
Back down the wall.
Losing daylight fast.
Amber spotted this deer.
There were two. See them?
The end.