The Last of the Beaches and the Start of the Canyons

Beach on Padre Island
in Texas

After leaving the spa in San Antonio, I headed for the last leg of my tour of the gulf coast.  I got to Padre Island just after noon.  I took a stroll on the nature trail.  There were several rolling dunes that were quite beautiful, but all the wildlife was hiding from the scotching sun.  Then I headed for the beach.  The water was wonderfully warm and the perfect cross between wavy and calm.  After several rotations between floating in the water and reading on the beach, I got motivated to move on.  I headed north and ended up in Mustang Island State Park.  I got to camp on the beach in Texas again, and this time no one tried to talk me out of it (I think it helped that the rangers were women).  This beach was a cross between the beaches on the gulf side of Florida and the one in Sea Rim State Park up by Port Arthur.  The water was a bright blue and was quite warm similar to Florida beaches, but it still had a sense of being at least somewhat untamed and wild.  Sitting on the beach and watching the waves, the sunset, and pelicans fly overhead was the perfect way to transition from the Aunt Martha’s spa to being back in the wild!

Mustang Island State Park in Texas

The next day I packed up my gear and headed north.  The plan was to head in the general direction of Amarillo until I got sick of driving.  When I stopped for gas, I looked at the map and realized that I could probably make it to a park outside of Oklahoma City by sunset (some of the parks have gates that shut at sunset). So, I headed towards Oklahoma.  I was almost to the state line when I saw flashing lights in my rearview mirror.  For the first time in my life I was being pulled over.  I was a little perplexed by this since I was only going one mile an hour over the speed limit.  I gave the officer all the required paperwork then he informed me that he pulled me over because the plastic frame thing that goes around my license plate on the back of my car was covering up a small part of the plate that said what state I was from.  He did let me go with just a warning for this terrible offence.  Then he asked what brought me to Texas and we chatted about my trip for a while.  While it was mildly annoying that he pulled me over for such a silly reason, it actually really worked out because I had been concentrating on some less than pleasant personal matters before I got pulled over, and my run in with the law provided a perfectly timed distraction!       

Red Rock Canyon State Park
in Oklahoma

I continued into Oklahoma and was pleasantly surprised by how beautiful it was!  At first it was quite rolling, and then there were moments when I was high enough to see a great deal of land.  It still had the wild feel that Texas had, yet seemed a little less desolate.  I made it to Red Rock Canyon State Park around sunset, but it wasn’t gated, so I was okay.  As I slowly drove down into the park, I caught glimpses of lots of red rock and steep cliffs.  After laying claim to a campsite, I headed for the trail nearby.  After just a little way onto the trail, I was greeted by a gorgeous view of bluffs in the distance and an open ledge of bright red rock right in front of me.  I sat there and watched daylight slowly fade.  It was extraordinarily peaceful!     

After my detour to Oklahoma, I went to Palo Duro Canyon State Park in Texas.  It looks like it’s going to be a small park when you drive up to the visitor center, but soon after you drive past the visitor center, there is a scenic outlook that allows you to see a large portion of the canyon!  It’s breathtakingly beautiful!  The canyon is very large and reaches out in many directions.  The canyon walls have stripes of various colors based on what and where the sediments settled.  After gazing out at the canyon or quite a while, I made my way to the canyon floor to find my campsite.  After getting set up, I found a trail along the floor of the canyon.  There was not a bad view anywhere on the trail!  It was amazing to be surrounded by such steep and gorgeous canyons walls on all sides!  Next, I hiked from the canyon floor to the rim and back.  It was really fun to stop periodically on the trail and assess the various vantage points on the way up and down. 

Palo Duro Canyon State Park in Texas