Caprock Canyons State Park, Texas - April 4th and 9th, 2024
For the Total Solar Eclipse in 2024, we took a one week trip to Texas to view it. We stopped at two state parks on the way and the same two parks on the way back home. This post covers our visit to Caprock Canyons State Park in Texas, both as the second stop on the trip and again as the second to last stop on our trip.
Most of the drive on Thursday from Sugarite Canyon State Park in New Mexico to Caprock Canyons in Texas was on two lane highways, more our style of traveling. It was nice to be off of I-25. The terrain was pretty flat, with gusts of wind, but not as bad as it can get for those areas. We would spot pronghorns every now and then. The highway passed through small towns, some of them looked a little deserted. Most towns had at least one grain silo and a Dollar General or Family Dollar store.
We stopped in Clayton, New Mexico at Mock’s Crossroads Coffee Mill. This was the same coffee shop we stopped in last season (Santa Fe, New Mexico - October 5th to 6th, 2023). Ann took her laptop inside and we caught up on some emails while drinking our chai and cappuccino. There wasn’t any cell service at Sugarite Canyon State Park the night before and there were some people we needed to communicate with. We also split a cinnamon roll. They served it warm and it was pretty tasty.
In Dalhart, Texas, we stopped at the Love’s for gas and restrooms. We like stopping at Love’s because their restrooms are normally pretty clean and Keith loves their coffee. The one in Dalhart also had a place for RV’s to spend the night. This one wasn’t as nice as the one we saw the day before in Walsenburg, Colorado. The one in Dalhart was more what we expected at a truck stop. It was just long parking spots in a parking lot, but they had full hookups. It was called Love’s RV Hookup instead of Love’s RV Stop like the one in Walsenburg. The RV Stop looked more inviting than the RV Hookup. We could imagine the RV Hookup would be a rather noisy night, as you would be parked just a few feet from a busy highway.
For lunch, we drove over to the Kella Hill Park in Dalhart for a picnic lunch. Kella Hill was a little city park with picnic tables and benches along with a playground. None of the picnic tables were in the shade, so we opted to sit at the benches under the gazebo. It was definitely spring. The birds in the trees were talking up a storm, making all kinds of interesting calls.
Before we left Dalhart, we swapped the batteries in the Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS - paid link) sensors for the front tires. We were trying to get to the bottom of the issues with the one sensor loosing its communication signal. It wasn’t long before the front left tire sensor lost communication again, as indicated by the “ns” warning posted on the monitor. OK, the issue is not the battery. It must be the sensor is going bad. So we hopped online and ordered a replacement from Amazon.
We pulled into Caprock Canyons State Park rather late, around 6 pm. We followed the posted late check-in procedure and continued on to the campground. A herd of bison greeted us along the way. After being in Red Tail most of the day, we wanted to get a walk in before dark. Luckily, we had leftovers from home in the fridge that we could reheat in the microwave for a quick dinner. We were on the trail by 6:45 pm.
The Caprock Canyon Rim Trailhead was at the end of the Honey Flat campground loop. Our plan was to hike out on the Canyon Rim Trail for over a mile, then take the Canyon Rim Spur Trail back, to complete a loop.
The Caprock Canyon Rim Trail, as the name suggests, follows along the rim of a canyon. The setting sun casted a wonderful glow on the red walls of the canyon. Prickly pear cacti and assorted wildflowers lined the trail. Three buffalo were grazing near the trail, but they were a comfortable distance away. We checked the rule of thumb to make sure (we could cover them up with our thumb of our outstretched arm). We didn’t seem to affect the animals’ behavior. They glanced at us every now and then, but otherwise ignored us.
When we reached the Canyon Spur Trail to head back, we changed our mind. The spur trail headed off into tall bushes, with poor visibility. We weren’t sure how close the spur trail would come to the three bison we saw before. Plus, we didn’t know if there were other buffalo in the area and we didn’t want to accidentally startle one in the bushes. So we felt our best option was to take the Canyon Rim Trail back the way we came.
As we were walking along the rim near the three bison, the rest of the herd came out of the bushes to join them. Unfortunately, some of the herd was getting rather close to the trail. We were starting to get trapped up against the canyon rim by the herd. We needed to get around the next corner of the trail to get past the animals. Instead of staying at least 50 yards away, we needed to come within about 20 to 30 yards of a couple of them to get out of there. The other options were to hang out along the rim and hope they move on and don’t come closer to us, which could take hours or all night or try to go back to the spur trail. Neither of those two options seemed very feasible. By the time we get around the herd in the other direction to go back to the spur trail, the herd may close in on us and cut that direction off as well. Besides, the visibility looked poor on the spur trail and we wouldn’t know if we were getting too close to some bison. Our best option was to continue on the Rim Trail and sneak by the herd.
We continued walking down the trail, slowly, making sure not to make any sudden movements. As we approached the corner in the trail, three other bison of the herd sensed we were getting too close. They started walking straight towards us, shoulder to shoulder. We quickened our pace a little and started talking to the buffalo in a soft, calming voice. The ridge of the canyon forced us to continue somewhat towards the approaching animals, but at an angle. As soon as we made it around the bend and were clearly moving away from the herd, the three backed off. Whew! Those three were clearly sending us a message. It probably didn’t help that there were a few young ones in the herd, so they were probably a little extra protective. That was a closer encounter of buffalo than we would have liked.
The Official Texas State Bison Herd at Caprock Canyons was donated to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in 1997. They are descendants of the herd that Charles Goodnight started preserving in the Texas Panhandle in 1878. This herd has the last remaining examples of the Southern Plains variety of American bison.
By the time we returned to our camp site, we had gone over three miles with under 90 feet in elevation gain in an hour and 15 minutes. We counted it as hike number nine of our 52 Hike Challenge for 2024.
Bison were not the only wild animals we encountered in the park. During our hike, we could hear coyotes howling in the distance. Surrounding the bathhouse was a prairie dog town. The prairie dogs would bark their displeasure as we made our way over to the rest room. After dark, there was a herd of deer near the bathhouse.
The following week, it rained most of Tuesday, as we headed back to Caprock Canyons State Park in Texas from Lofer’s Bend West Campground on Lake Whitney. We stopped in Dublin again and picked up some more flavors of Dublin Soda. This time it was cola, grapefruit, lemon-lime, and ginger-ale. For lunch, we stopped at a roadside rest, but we didn’t get out of Red Tail. There were no restrooms there anyway. After one more gas and bathroom break, we arrived at Caprock Canyons before the Visitor Center closed.
It was a little funny that there was a hear of bison hanging out around a statue of a buffalo, just outside the Visitor Center. Since we arrived during business hours, we were required to go inside to check in. It was pouring down rain at the time. There were no parking spots available near the door that weren’t handicap. We parked almost at the other end of the lot from the door. Ann grabbed her rain jacket and ran inside the center. By the time she returned, she was drenched. The rain jacket kept her upper body dry, but her pants, shoes, and socks were soaked. Temperatures were in the 40’s, so she was pretty cold.
Our site was not perfectly level, the front tires were about three inches low. That was good enough for us. Neither one of us wanted to get out in the rain to get the leveling blocks out. But we did hop out and turn the propane on. Ann wanted to be able to turn on the furnace.
After changing into some dry clothes, Ann decided to get some exercise. She’s had an Apple Watch since December and tries to “close her rings” every day. Spending most of the day sitting in a vehicle on travel days makes it challenging. With both of the tables stored away, she had enough room in the dinette area to move. She put on her ear buds, turned on some music, and danced. Surprisingly, there was quite a bit of room to maneuver in. There was no way she could have done that in Red Tail Lodge One (our VanDOit camper van). Even if she could have cleared some floor space in the van, there wasn’t enough head room to jump around without hitting her head on the ceiling, despite being a high roof van. Another win for the EKKO! It was nice to know that exercising inside Red Tail Lodge Two (our EKKO) was a viable option.
At first we had Red Tail closed up pretty tight, with just the furnace on. However, with the rain and cold temperatures outside, Ann sweating up a storm, followed by a shower, water started condensing everywhere, on the walls, on the windows, and on the metal frame of the entry door. We cracked open some windows and turned the MaxxAir fan on and wiped down the walls. Then things started to dry out a little bit.
The rain stopped and the weather cleared on Wednesday. As we stopped by the bathhouse of the Caprock Canyons campground, we met fellow EKKO owners, Craig and Marie, from California. They had made the trip to Texas for the eclipse as well. It is nice to meet other owners and share our experiences. Safe travels!
It was a good thing we got a chance to explore some of Caprock Canyons during our first visit, because we didn’t get to explore at all on our second visit, due to the rain. That just re-affirmed why we like to spend three to five nights every time we stop instead of just one. Staying longer gives us a chance to work around the weather.
Check out our related video: Caprock Canyons State Park, Texas
(Ann)