Palo Duro Single Track

Well it IS a report about a ride on two wheels, but this time I left my faithful motos in the garage and grabbed the mountain bike, because that's the only way besides hiking that you see any of the good stuff in Palo Duro State Park.

My wife's mom and dad wanted us to take them to see the outdoor musical "Texas", so the wheels started turning on how I could save an otherwise lost weekend. I have way too much adult ADD for a musical play/production to be the highlight of my weekend. So, the mountain bike came with me and I hit the trails before 7 AM this Sunday morning.

Here is a map so you can follow along. My route was the GSL trail to Little Fox Canyon, back to the GSL, and then on to the Lighthouse trail heading to the Lighthouse. I enjoyed the GSL trail so much I ended up taking it back after a few detours toward the beginning of the Lighthouse trail checking on my wife who was hiking.

My total mileage for the morning was right at 12 miles.

We're going to need more pics.
I took my mountain bike with me on family vaca this week too. Did the Madrone trail at Canyon lake. 8.5 miles with lots of rocks. It wore me out


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The Givens, Spicer, and Lowery trail is a difficult rated single track though some canyon breaks. I started before 7 AM to beat some of the heat. It started out beautiful but got hot quick. I was done before 10:30 and that included a hike up to the Lighthouse.

This is the terrain that the GSL trail takes you through. It is pretty much narrow single track with rough ups and downs through the canyon breaks. Really fun and you can bomb the downhill sections if that is your thing. The trail is marked every 1/10 of a mile.




After a while, another trail, Little Fox Canyon, appears to the right. This trail traverses a canyon bottom crossing a dry sandy wash several times. It is fast and mostly flat through the cottonwoods. Again, really fun. Here is some of the trail.



About halfway through, I came to a little grove of trees that was or is a special place to some. It has a spot to sit and a book to write down whatever is on your mind. Pretty cool. I will also add that to this point, and actually all the way until I merged with the Lighthouse trail, I never saw another soul.

Soon I was closing in on the merge with the Lighthouse trail. Here ia good picture looking back at what I had traversed to that point.



Heat is an issue and lots of tourist hikers get into trouble every summer. There are thermometers placed on the trails to remind you how dumb you are for being out on what has turned out to be the hottest weekend of the summer so far. Oh well, that's my luck.



The trail merges with the Lighthouse trail and soon the Park's iconic feature comes into view.


A mile later is the end of the line and to get up close requires a steep rocky hike, but here is what you get if you go all in.


I was sitting and contemplating when I began to hear voices. Now, those of you that have met me would not find that alarming. However, it wasn't THOSE kind of voices, they were real this time. Look closely here:


Yikes. These were the first two humans I had seen all day to this point.

My wife was hiking the Lighthouse trail today. She got a later start because she was waiting on her brother and his wife. They were staying in Amarillo and the gates to the park do not open until 8 AM, which is beyond silly, considering how hot it gets so quick. I pedaled back down the Lighthouse trail about 1.5 miles and found them coming in. They were doing OK, so I turned back around and hit the GSL trail going back the way I came.

The recent rains had turned everything green. It just makes you feel better than the gray and brown that you usually see.


The trail runs along this sheer canyon wall. If you look at my previous pictures, you will see this same feature from a much longer distance.


I was back at the camper soon after. I was mildly concerned about my wife and her group because they were now out in the full blown heat. Turns out they were fine, but they had some real drama. About a mile out still, heading back to the Lighthouse trailhead, they ran into a search and rescue team looking for a female hiker who was in serious trouble. The hiker's daughter had gone ahead to get help. The rescue team asked my wife if they had seen the women, but no one had seen her.

My wife and her group kept walking and at about the 1/2 mile mark found the women curled up under a bush. The search team had gone right by and not seen her!! My wife and her brother tended to her while my niece literally turned around and ran down the rescue team. By the time they got there, my wife had given the woman some water and she was coming around. She ended up being OK.

Anyway, it was a great ride this morning, and I would recommend my route to anyone that is up for a beautiful and fun ride. Summer is not my first choice on time of the year for this park, but the play "Texas" is only on in the summer, so those were the circumstances.

THANKS! Looks like some of the flatter ares should be just right for my dear wife and her mtb. She'll enjoy following your tracks.

_RG_ said:

THANKS! Looks like some of the flatter ares should be just right for my dear wife and her mtb. She'll enjoy following your tracks.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the comments RG. Whenever you go, holler and I will give you some more details on what is best for riding and/or hiking.

Once it cools off, I am going to try and get up there more. It is truly magnificent once you get away from all the other touristas.

One of my favorite places in Texas. Many fond memories of motorcycle camping and hiking there. Your report almost makes me want to do mountain biking

There are some inviting dirt roads down at the base of the escarpment, near the old Goodnight ranch, and east of the Park that have tempted me to ride on the DR350. Might check those out, too.

Palo Duro is a beautiful place and the trails show it off well. They are not too challenging, like the Madrone at Canyon Lake can be (8 miles that makes you feel like you rode twice that), but the heat more than makes up for it.

I was riding there once and came across a granddad and two kids who were hiking to the Lighthouse and only brought a small Ozarka bottle each, which was long gone. They were all in bad shape. I round tripped to the parking lot and got them more water and let a ranger know they needed help. He took a four-seat cart out to retrieve them. Despite all the encouragement the park provides to take water, people don't realize how much they need or what the consequences can be.

I need to get back out there and spend more time. Usually all I would get in was a short ride as it was an overnight stop when on the way to riding trails in Colorado. Thanks for the report and photos as inspiration to revisit Canyon, Texas and Palo Duro.

Thanks for the replies, y'all. Mountain biking for me is a distant second to real dirt bikes, but it helps me stay in shape now that I am in the 50 plus club. It also affords access to single track otherwise off limits to motos. Mostly I pass the time pedaling but day dreaming about how fun the trails would be on one of my dirt bikes.

Thanks for the great posts and pics. Palo Duro is an incredible place. I have not been out there in some years (mid 70s). Have recently wondered whether there was any chance of still riding some small portion on a dirt bike. Was thinking of a weekend long canyon dual sport ride & camp out, which would require some access to dirt riding sections. Pretty much knew the answer would be resounding "NO, of course not" in the modern day world.
Too bad we riders are not given more consideration by our politicians. Even bicycles get more respect than we do from our elected officials. If you ride a motor cycle at all...Please please please let your local, regional, and state representatives know that you ride, and you are sick and tired of seeing this rather large segment of society ignored and discriminated against, particularly when it comes to providing reasonable and equitable access to public recreation areas. I bet there are more M/C riders, than soccer players. Yet everywhere I look I see soccer fields sprouting up like wild flowers at all our parks. We need to do a MUCH better job of demanding our fair share of representation and resources.

Thanks for the post. I grew up in Canyon so I have spent a lot of good times in Palo Duro.

Cool. I rode that trail last year on my way back from working on wind turbines in Dumas, TX. Got a picture of the thermometer from the back of the canyon reading close to 120! But **** that was fun!

Fabulous pics

What is that you're riding exactly, a 29er of what brand?