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

Headquarters

On the Road: Big Spring, TX, to Quitaque, TX

We pulled out of Texas RV Park about 7:30 the morning of Sunday, August 19. After a brief stop at McDonald’s for coffee and parfaits, we were on the road heading north shortly after 8:00.

Just north of Big Spring, the land is dominated by cotton, with an occasional field of sunflowers appearing from time to time. The towns along the way all depend on agriculture for their income. The treeless land is green this time of year, with crops in varying stages of maturity. Farm houses dot the land, surrounded by trees forming wind breaks from the punishing winds of the South Plains.

This is the South Plains, and Lubbock is the hub of the South Plains. Look at a map, and you’ll see that all roads in the area seem to lead to Lubbock. Home of Texas Tech University, the city continues to grow and sprawl. Lubbock is a busy town, the financial and commercial hub of the South Plains.

Just north of Lubbock, the landscape begins to change, with corn replacing cotton as the main crop. The interstate skirts small towns – New Deal, Abernathy and Hale Center. We stop in Plainview for gas. In 1980, our daughter Courtney was born in a hospital on the north side of Plainview. I’ve always liked the town. Home of the “Flying Queens” of Wayland Baptist University, the progressive town appears neat and orderly.

We continue heading north. Just south of Tulia, we pull off the interstate into a parking area. Donna had made tuna sandwiches the night before, and we pull these out the fridge for a light lunch. Just a few miles farther on, we turn off the Interstate at Tulia, another neat little town of the southern Panhandle. We head east along Highway 86 and watch as the farmland gives away more and more to ranch land. We pass through the small town of Silverton, where we stop once more for gas. We have plenty of gas for now, but towns in this area are few and far between, and I don’t want to take any chances. In fact, I’m carrying 5 gallons in a container in the back of the truck just to be sure. After all, in the next few weeks we will be passing through some sparsely populated areas.

About 5 or 6 miles west of Quitaque, we descend from the Cap Rock into the broken red sandstone country. The canyon country of this part of Texas is not like the Grand Canyon, which really appears like a furrow plowed in the earth. This is broken country that essentially falls off from an extended mesa. It crumbles from the edge of a table into a rolling country.

Caprock Canyons State Park will be our home for the next 3 days.

Our route from Big Spring to Caprock Canyons SP