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ed with the weariness created
ba fun-filled day overshadow the
ing to seek out the night voices
on the cliffs above.
visitors spending more than a few
hurs in the canyons who take the
tme and effort to leave the park's
meandering paved roads, soon find
tey are no longer "on the bottom"
of a misplaced prairie canyon. Insead,
they find themselves exploring
washes in big gullies that are
ffhots from the main canyon.
Palo Duro has more character
than just a deep gully. It is a maze
of mountains in canyons, and ravines
washing through mountains. The
bottom may seem smooth in one
place, yet a slight dip or a seemingly
insignificant rise may hide a full
day's adventure through deceptively
concealed ravines, trees, and tiny,
spring-fed streams.
Yet with the adventure-laden wilderness
built on unleveled sand, modern
man ferrets out the flat places
in the park where comfortable open
shelters are situated. Some are located
on small hilltops for the enjoyment
of view-loving campers, while
others offer the scant security of
shallow depressions and mesquite
thickets.
Modern restrooms with tiled
showers and wash basins are nearby
in the main camping areas. Drinking
water flows from spring-fed pipes
that snake their way down the cliffs.
Concrete tables and metal waist-high
broilers add to the modernizations
in the rustic surroundings.
Park rangers, trained to provide
safe and practical camping and picnicking
facilities, live in the park
near the campers. They constantly
patrol the area offering help, information,
advice, and security, although
the artificial moonlight produced
by mercury-vapor lamps ward
off many figments of the night-time
imagination.
Palo Duro Canyon arouses emotion
in its fascinated visitors. Just
as years ago, man continues to marvel
at the works of nature that have
turned the prairie inside out. Gaping
in the endless plains like an oasis in
the desert, its gigantic proportions
make man a mere speck - but he
will return again and again to marvel
at the stark, crude beauty. **
Rugged canyon amphitheatre resounds on summer
nights to "Thundering Sounds of the West,"
with galloping actors, dramatic lights and music.
Towering, sheer cliffs of Palo Duro provide a
scenic balance to the surrounding flat plains.
JULY, 1965
