Caprock Canyons State Park

Located just north of Quitaque, Texas (pronounced kitty-kway), Caprock Canyons State Park is a large park, consisting of 15,313.6 acres. The key attraction of the park is the scenery, and almost everywhere you look is a picture postcard. The park is home to the official state bison herd, consisting of about 80 head. This is the herd that was started by Charles Goodnight and his wife in the late 1800s. They wander freely throughout the park. We saw them a number of times around Lake Theo.

Buffalo getting an afternoon drink at Lake Theo

Lake Theo, a no-wake lake, is located just inside the entrance of the park, and it provides fishing and swimming opportunities. During our stay, the lake was extremely low, but people were still enjoying it.

Lake Theo; notice pier on dry land in center right

The other big recreational draw to the park is the vast system of trails available to hikers, bikers, and equestrians (see map).

The park offers various camping opportunities, from primitive camping to sites with 30 and 50 amp electric and water hookups. The park does not have full hookups. Showers are available only in the Honey Flat camping area. Several sites in that area have mature cottonwood trees, but the drought has been so severe that they have few leaves and, therefore, do not provide good shade.

Our campsite, #3

We stayed in site #3. When we arrived on a Sunday afternoon, there were 4 other campers in our camping loop. By Monday afternoon, we were alone, but a small Casita trailer joined us before the sun set. There was no highway noise and no unnatural light. It was quiet and dark, good for sleeping. On Tuesday night, we were joined by 3 more trailers, including a second Casita.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that we picked up 8 English language TV channels on our antennae. We also received 3 Spanish language stations. In addition, we had good cell phone service at our campsite. Although WiFi does not extend into the campground, we were able to go up to the office and pick up a signal in the covered area just outside the office.

We enjoyed cool weather for August for our entire stay. We stayed from Sunday, August 19, to Wednesday, August 22. The highs on both Monday and Tuesday were in the low 70s. We did not run our air-conditioning after the afternoon of our arrival. We also suffered through a terrific storm Monday night. Lightning and thunder were all around us, and a hard rain pelted our trailer.

Canyon Country

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