Okay, it was only 900 miles. But heh, I was back on the motorcycle, out of town, and very happy to be on the road.
Three day weekend and I literally don’t think I saw a cloud all weekend. I took secondary roads out to Caprock Canyon State Park and was amazed by how dead everything looked after the drought this summer.
I got out to the park and was blocked from getting to the camp site by bison on the road. They are part of the herd Charles Goodnight saved when all the original bison were being slaughtered out of existence. I had feared the bison herd would only be seen behind fencing, so I was happy to see them on the road even if they weren’t too enthralled with the sound of my F650 single and started to run as I was passing through them. They are really, really big animals and I had kind of hoped they wouldn’t be too freaked by the engine noise…
The next morning it was off for a 100 mile run up to Palo Duro State Park to see that canyon too. I have really come to believe if there is a mere breath of wind in west Texas or the panhandle it blows itself up into much higher force because there is absolutely nothing out there to slow it down. Needless to say it was a breezy ride there and back through miles and miles of nothingness.
If you’re going between Caprock and Palo Duro I would highly suggest 207 – it crosses the canyon and is a fun drop down into it and then ride up out of it with pretty scenery.
I don’t know if you’re familiar with the story about the caprocks. Before the Indians had horses and more sophisticated weapons they would run bison off the end of one of the caprocks and then gather at the bottom preserving all the meat, tanning the hides, even making utensils out of the bones. No part of the bison was wasted. Which makes me respect the Indians a heck of a lot more than the white hunters who decimated the bison for only their hides.
I was expecting PD to be much more impressive than Caprock but ended up liking Caprock a lot better. It’s less more heavily visited and a much broader part of the canyon lands. Nicely maintained campgrounds and a lot of wildlife that feel very comfortable around humans.
Link to slide show: http://motorcycle-journeys.com/images/2011_trips/caprock/index.html