Palo Duro Canyon

The canyon runs about 72 kilometres long and up to thirty-two wide, with a depth of around 240 metres, cut by the Prairie Dog Town Fork of the Red River into the Llano Estacado - and the approach is the striking part, because the plain is dead flat and the canyon does not appear until you are at the rim. The rock is banded red, orange, yellow and white through four geological layers. The Lighthouse, a hoodoo of sandstone over soft shale, is the park's emblem and reached by a loop trail of about ten kilometres. In 1874 an army expedition under Ranald S. Mackenzie captured about 1,200 Comanche and Kiowa horses here and slaughtered them in nearby Tule Canyon, after which the two tribes left the area.

What you'll find

• A canyon invisible until the rim - cut into flat plain.
• Banded rock in four layers - red, orange, yellow and white.
• The Lighthouse hoodoo - on a ten-kilometre loop trail.
• The 1874 campaign site - where the horse herd was destroyed.

When to go

March to May and September to November; summer exceeds forty degrees. A full day.

Before you go

Summer heat in the canyon is dangerous - the floor is hotter than the rim. There is no shade on the Lighthouse trail. Flash floods close the road across the river. Winter can bring ice on the descent.

Nearby

Amarillo is north; Caprock Canyons is south-east.

Key facts