Canyons and Bison

Corinne National Parks & Monuments, Sightseeing 4 Comments

It was time to make our way towards Albuquerque and my brother’s family for the Easter weekend. But we had a few days to kill. So to stop? I pulled out my copy of the National Geographic Guide to Scenic Highways and Byways. There I found a scenic route in the Texas Panhandle called Canyon Sweep AND a state park nearby with an available site. Done. We were going to Caprock Canyons State Park.

The day’s drive to the Panhandle provided me with a couple of great pictures I just have to share.

As we were getting ready to hook up the Jeep to the back of the RV to leave the winery (see the previous post), the sun peaked over the horizon. I pulled out my phone and got this phenomenal shot of the Blue Flame. Wow!
Later in the day, we stopped at a picnic pull-off to take a break and I shot this picture. This is the last we are going to see of the Bluebonnets on this trip. Again, another picture that I absolutely love!

The reward after a long day of driving was the state park. It is situated at the southern edge of the Great Plains.

It’s wide open here. Lots of pasture land, cattle, and windmills pulling up water for the cattle.

The state park is also home to a herd of bison. What? We didn’t expect that.

Sing along with me…”Oh give me a home, where the Buffalo roam.” Actually, the proper term is Bison.
There they are, bison. The herd had full access to EVERYWHERE in the park.
EVERYWHERE included the campground. I took this picture through an opening in our RV door.
I caught this guy wandering alongside our RV. You can’t get much closer than this. Or can you?

So, here’s a new experience. We woke up after a good night’s sleep and I open a window in the main living area of the RV to get a picture of the sunrise.

Texas Panhandle Sunrise.

While taking the picture, I heard running water. What? So I looked down. Someone had turned on the water faucet at our campsite. Again…what? I opened the door to go outside to turn the water off and….WHAT???? There are bison in our campsite wandering away. I proceeded to go outside and turn off the water. Jim and I then mulled over what had happened. Did a bison turn the water on? No way. We talked to the campground host (person who camps at the campground for a month or so to help out fellow campers) and he confirmed that indeed, bison will turn on water faucets. One of his duties is to turn off water faucets after the herd comes through. Whether the bison want to get a drink or the faucet is a convenient scratching post, who knows?

Fast forward to that evening and Jim yells to me “The water is running again.” Seriously? I grabbed my phone/camera and stuck my head out the window again. And this is what I saw…

Caught in the act!!! You can see the water running and the bison nonchalantly wandering away. That is a sight I never thought I would see!

So the next time you need to throw out a random fact in a conversation, you can unequivocally state that bison know how to turn on water faucets

That was our fun with the bison. It was just so cool that they had full run of the park. You never knew when you would see them wandering through. A stay in this park is worth it just for that!

You do have to mind your step however. There were piles of bison dung everywhere!

This region is also know for its canyons, both in and out of the park. That’s why we came here after all! Between hiking and driving, we got to see some great sights.

This is the scenic drive that initially brought us to the part of Texas. Unfortunately, it was a bit cloudy so you really don’t see the full colors.
As I figured, the Bluebonnets were no more (too dry) and gave way to desert wildflowers and prickly pear cactus.
The canyons within the park were stunning.
On one of our hikes, we spotted this caprock (hence the name of the state park) that had broken through. A caprock is “a harder or more resistant rock type overlying a weaker or less resistant rock type.” Thanks Wikipedia.
This is The Natural Bridge. There is indeed an opening that you can see through to the other side.

For a destination that we had never heard of before, this was a stellar stay. Between the scenery and the antics of the bison, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. My fellow RVers, put this place on your list.

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4 thoughts on “Canyons and Bison”

  2. dominiquefeather

    Wow — some really nice pictures. Thanks for sharing them. We, too, had a bison experience in Yellowstone. We were hauling an old self contained trailer and 6-8 of them walked right beside it — little scary. They’re big suckers. Didn’t realize they were so smart though 🙂

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