Caprock Canyon – Bison

by Michael

On day 4, we took a short drive from Canyon down to Quitaque, TX (pronounced “Kitty-cue”) to visit Caprock Canyon State Park. Among other things, this is home to the official Texas state bison herd. The first thing we noticed was that there were no actual signs warning that you are not allowed to rollerskate, so if you are so inclinded I guess there is nothing stopping you. (Ask your parents if you don’t get that reference, or click –> here)

Official State Bison Herd of Texas

It is hard to ponder what it must have been like with millions of these beasts roaming free across the praries of America. The natives alledgedly used every part of the bison in sustaining their lifestyle. Everything from the hides, to the bones had a use in their culture. I have read stories from eye-witnesses that reported that the prarie looked like waves of an ocean with so many of these beautiful creatures roaming the land. According the the TPWD website,

At one time, 30 to 60 million bison roamed the North American plains. Early Spanish explorers in Texas, including the Coronado expedition, said they were as numerous as “fish in the sea.”… From 1874 to 1878, hunters decimated the great southern bison herd. Estimates from 1888 were that less than 1,000 head of bison remained in North America.

https://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/caprock-canyons/bison/story
Massive creatures

I would not say that this herd is at all domesticated, but they do seem to be a little less “wild” than the bison in Yellowstone NP. That said, when they block the road, they still make it very clear that they are in charge. I can only imagine what it must have been like to feel the earth rumble as herds of thousands trotted across the land. It must have been an amazing experiance.

Bath time

We grew up and went to school in a town in Oklahoma which had schools with both “bison” and “buffalo” mascots. Because the bison was the mascot of the middle school and the buffalo was the mascot of the high school, I grew up thinking that a bison was just a young buffalo. Well, needless to say, that caused a bit of embarassmnt and laughter in my later years when I hearned that real buffalo are native to Asia and Africa while Bison are the critters that we have here. So next time someone tells you they saw buffalo while visiting Yellowstone or other place here in the US, you can kindly inform them that what they saw were actually bison. I blame the public school system for my confusion. For a short video explaining the differences, click –> here.

Bison, not buffalo

Bison are not the only critters in Caprock, they also have a couple of prariedog towns, which we will visit in the next installment.

Until then,

Michael & Karen

All words and photographs are copyright 2023 M Hampton Photography

Palo Duro Canyon – Part 6

by Michael

Welcome to part 6-Chasing the Sunset!

After resting up from our horeback adventure and having a good dinner at Joe Taco in Canyon, thanks to the recommendation of Kristin at Palo Duro Riding Stables, we headed back to the canyon to try and chase the light for some sunset photography. On our way back to the canyon, we spotted this windmill, just as some color began to creep into the sky.

Lone windmill

After entering the park we began to have doubts about any chance of a sunset as we noticed that the sky began to be covered with a solid sheet of cloud. This is not helpful for a colorful sunset, or any sunset at all for that matter. But we began to try and make the most of it, taking shots as we could before the sky, and light, was completely gone.

Sky becoming cloud covered.

We drove from place to pace, trying to find the best spot to catch the sunset. With the cloud cover iit was difficult to know exactly where the sun would be peaking out in order to frame it properly. Eventually, the clouds did part and we were able to finish up our time at Palo Duro Canyon with these photographs. At this point, words will simply get in the way, so enjoy our final moments in the Canyon.

Moonrise over the canyon wall
Sun beginning to set
Setting sun backlighting the rim
Karen taking in the setting sunlight
Setting sun on rim with rising moon
Michael taking his shots at the sunset light (no hat needed)
Fire in the sky
Sunset panorama
Backlit canyon flora
Farewell to the sun

While this brings a close to our time at Palo Duro Canyon, tomorrow we travel a little to the south to visit the Caprock Canyon State Park where there will be more canyon scenes and some wildlife. Be sure to tune in for that episode of the blog.

Michael & Karen

All words and photographs copyright 2023 M Hampton Photography

Palo Duro Canyon – Part 5

by Michael

Welcome to part 5, or day 3 part 1 if you will. Today was our 31st anniversary and we celebrated by going horseback riding in the canyon. We selected Palo Duro Riding Stables for this because they have history here. They are a third generation operation, and we just loved everything we read about them. To jump to the end, we loved them and would highly recommend them to anyone looking for this experiance!

The beautiful bride and “Forrest”

Karen was assigned to ride “Forrest”. The story behind his name is that when he was young, he had an issue with his legs and had to wear special braces. Once the braces were removed, he was so happy he just started running and someone yelled “Run, Forrest! Run!” The name stuck. He was a great horse!

The bride taking a shot at the groom

We were blessed with a beautiful day for this ride. It wasn’t too hot and the trail meandered through areas of sun and shade. It also provided many magnificent views of the canyon!

Palo Duro canyon from horseback

During the ride we were regaled with tales of the canyon and the history of this family run business. There have been many of the Hollywood crowd that has gone through here over the years. One name that jumped out to me was Ben Johnson. He was an actor in many great western shows and movies in the past, and like us, originally from Oklahoma. If you have watched many westerns, you have likely seen him.

Obligatory Photo Stop

Michael’s horse was named “Coyote”. He was described as the herd’s alpha. Of course, they may have said that just to make Michael feel good. He was after all wearing his big hat. They also said that Coyote was a “union horse”, meaning that he decides to take union breaks whenever he feels like it. Any time we stopped he would need to take a moment to chew on whatever plant was nearby. A gentle nudge and he would be ready to go again though. His union breaks did present time for photo taking, so it wasn’t altogether a bad thing.

That smile alone was worth the cost of admission

As you can tell from the above photo, Karen had a blast, as did Michael. We have watched a lot of westerns and always comment about what amazing animals horses are. They are so strong and endure so much, yet at the same time can be so fragile. We just love them.

Jesse, third generation owner of Palo Duro Stables

According to their web site:

Jesse Sorenson is 3rd generation here at PDRS. Growing up in the saddle with a gun on his hip, Jesse spent his childhood entertaining folks from all over the world. Many of the horses in the PDRS herd are direct descendants from the horses that Jesse rode as a kid.

https://paloduroridingstables.com/about
Jesse’s girl, Kristin

The trail leader for our ride was Kristin, Jesse’s wife and mother to their children. She had plenty of stories about the place and the many famous visitors they have had over the years. Both Jesse and Kristin were very friendly and again, I highly recommend their place if you want to see the canyon from horseback.

The neighbor’s horses

During the ride I noticed up on the rim of the canyon, three horses. We were amazed that there didn’t appear to be a fence along the canyon wall. But with that said, we found this to be a very picturesque scene.

Photo op spot

As our trail ride was ending, we came to the pre-assigned “photo op” spot, where Jesse took one of our cameras and took this photo of us together on horseback. What a great memory for our anniversary! Apparently, Coyote has a habit of mugging for the camera and making faces any time a camera comes out, so several photos had to be taken before getting one without him making a crazy face. Don’t tell me that horses don’t have personalities!

Let us take this time to once again give a big thumbs up to Jesse and Kristin at Palo Duro Riding Stables. We could not have asked for a more friendly couple to take us riding on our anniversary. If you are in the area and want to take a ride through the canyon, I can’t recommend them enough! Check them out.

Next time, we’ll be chasing a sunset in the canyon.

See you then,

Michael & Karen

All words and photos copyright 2023 M Hampton Photography