More - Palo Duro Canyon

Our Hosting month is almost over here in the canyon.  Three more days and we're away for a month of travel before our next  Hosting spot in Northern Colorado.  It's been an interesting month here, and we've enjoyed it.  As Hosts, one of the things we do is assist and answer campers questions the best we can. 

Some of the interaction we've had this month:

- Inquiries about the junior ranger program for kids 4 - 12
- A camper needed help when he locked the keys in the car.  I let him have a coat hanger, loaned a screw Driver, and gave him phone numbers to contact a locksmith.
- A camper with a fifth wheel trailer could not hitch his truck when his leg jacks failed.  I loaned him my hydraulic jack and helped him jack it up so he could hitch.
- Back country hikers stopped about 10:30 PM after a rain and asked if we could boil them 16 ounces of water for their food pouch. They were hungry and still 3 miles from their tents. We fixed 'em up and off they went.
- A camper claimed his electric power pole was not working properly. I checked it with my meter and found the campground power was fine, then helped him determine it was his camper power converter.
- A late night cabin arrival was not given a key when they checked in and had to spend the night in their car.  The office closed and we had not been given a key at that point. Next day we had a key.
- Changing assigned sites.
- Several cars illegally parked - advised owners and they all complied.
- Invitation to a birthday party at their site for cake and ice cream.
- Last night we were awakened at midnight by the park security that we had a tornado warning and he wanted us to assist in alerting the campers, so I put on my shoes and knocked on doors and tents to tell the campers to rendezvous at the bath house.  Just as we finished waking up most of the campers, the warning was lifted.... This was the third time this month we went out to alert campers of severe weather, but the first time so late at night.

More Canyon Pics:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My 6 mile hike to this formation called "The Lighthouse" - The parks most popular trail.
 

 

Camp Hosting in Palo Duro Canyon, Texas

We've been enjoying our month here in the Canyon.  As Camp Hosts we clean one each Men & Womens restroom (Not as bad as it sounds) ... clean 4 cabins - these cabins are the size of one small room with a microwave, small frig, a table with two chairs, and bunk beds that can sleep two on top and two on bottom.  The cabins have no linen and no running water. guests must bring all their own and use the restroom at the campground.

We are on site in the Mesquite Campground, which is 5 miles from the park entrance, and surrounded by canyon walls. Our camp loop has 19 sites and we are on hand to assist campers with information or directions the best we can. When we need help, we use a provided radio to contact park maintenance, or headquarters as needed.  We have no phone service unless we drive the 5 miles to the top canyon rim entrance.

We spend a total of about 30 man-hours per week, that's 15 hours each, which gives us plenty of time to do whatever else we want to do.

It's about 18 miles to the nearest town, Canyon, TX,  or anything else for that matter; and about 25 miles to Amarillo, TX.  We've been going out 2 or 3 times per week checking out the area and getting any needed supplies, like ice cream for example.

We'll be leaving here on June 1st and will travel about 50 miles south to Caprock Canyon State Park for a couple nights, then West back to New Mexico where we'll spend the month of June looking around Northern NM and Southwest Colorado.  We'll be winding our way slowly North to Rifle Gap State Park, near Rifle, Colorado where we'll be campground hosts during July and August before heading East to Indiana after Labor Day.

Canyon Views



June with Festus

Our site in the Mesquite Campground. We are supplied with the buggy to get around the area.

One of the many park trails

See Ya!

May 7, 2013 Updates

As I compose, June & I are doing laundry in Canyon, Texas, about 18 miles from our campsite down in Palo Duro Canyon where we are camp hosting for the month of May.

Our last update was from Roswell, NM - we then stopped for three nights at Sumner Lake State Park near Ft. Sumner, NM.  The notable items about this area is, this is near where Billy The Kid was actually shot and killed by Pat Garret. 

Billy The Kid, Alias William H. Bonney, and his real name Henry McCarty was shot here on July 14th, 1881.... Touring a local museum the story about Billy is not so much that he was an outlaw, but rather a folk hero in these parts.  Regardless of what you believe, he was a colorful character and his story is good for the tourism in this area.

The real story of Ft. Sumner was the internment of the Navajo and Mescalera Indians in the mid 1800's here at Ft. Sumner.  A recently constructed monument tells the story of this sad piece of American history.  (One can feel sad about the treatment of American Indians and the treatment they rec'd. I'll say this though; If you look around, all people at one time or another  in their history have been enslaved, murdered, conquered, rejected, hated, and so on it goes -  it's the history of people since the beginning of time and they are all sad to hear about)

Bosque Redondo Monument

Sumner Lake State Park, NM

Palo Duro Canyon State Park is just about 25 miles South of Amarillo, Texas, and is the second largest canyon in the USA.  The land around the canyon is flat as a pancake for hundreds of miles; desert, dry, hardly a tree in sight; then, you come to the State Park and drive down the canyon road and it's great!  We'll be here until June 3rd.  No cell phone service in the canyon. We can drive to the upper rim in about 20 minutes, a 6 mile drive....



This girl kept following me up a canyon trail.