Triumphant return

Several years ago we visited Palo Duro Canyon, a Texas State park. Unfortunately, we picked one of three days that year the back part of the park was closed. The park was hosting a Wounded Warrior 100 K race, and President George W. Bush was to be in attendance. Because of this, the Secret Service closed down the park beyond the visitor center, which is pretty much right at the entrance. So as we made our way from Northwestern Arkansas to Southern Colorado, we planned a stop by Amarillo – the park is about 30 miles South of there.

This time the park was open, although we weren’t too far into the park when we saw signs that the main road was closed for construction. Fortunately the roadway in the park is a big loop, so all we had to do was go the other way around and just turn around where the road was closed. So we did get to see all of it after all.

I wanted to hike to the Lighthouse, the signature formation of the park. Every brochure or website on the park displays a view of the Lighthouse. However, I learned that it was over a 3 mile hike into the formation, and then a return of the same. There were two issues to contend with – first, while it shouldn’t be this way in late September, the last I had checked the exterior temperature from the Saturn, she read 99 degrees. The sun was sweltering, and there is absolutely no shade on the hike. Second, I was trying to shake a fever from a virus that has bugged me the last day or so.

After careful consideration we took a pass, put it on the return to list, and just hiked some shorter hikes. Trust me, they were challenging enough with the heat and all over body aches. But we enjoyed touring the canyon bottom in what they refer to as the Grand Canyon of Texas. Allegedly Palo Duro Canyon is second only in size to the Grand Canyon in the US, so while a far cry from the Grand Canyon, it is a joy to visit.

After all the times we have driven through Amarillo on the I-40 we assumed we knew everything there was to do here – we were wrong. About 30 miles Northeast of Amarillo is Alibates National Monument – I just couldn’t believe we hadn’t discovered it before.

13,000 years ago Paleo-Indians known as the Clovis culture quarried flint here. Apparently the Monument represents one of few places in the US where agated dolomite is found. The agating process takes this already super hard limestone and gives it a very hard, brittle texture. When thin sections are chipped off, the resulting sharp edges are sharper than a razor blade. And yet the material could be carefully shaped to make knives, drills, arrow heads and spear heads. The Clovis of the time recognized how special it is and actually dug quarries in order to unearth a better quality of the native flint.

About 1,000 years ago, a Plains Village subgroup, known as the Antelope Creek people, recognized the specialness of this place. They also quarried flint here, but also built masonry structures close to the flint outcroppings along the Canadian River. The monument includes both the remains of the flint quarries as well as the archeological ruins of the dwellings.

The good news is that we just lucked out in the timing. You can only get to the ancient quarry sites and the dwellings on a Ranger led tour, which they conduct at only 10 AM and 2 PM. We actually arrived at about 10 minutes to 2, so we were jazzed. However, I checked the outdoor thermometer on the Saturn, and it now registered 103 degrees. The Rangers were reluctant to inform us that the 2 PM tour was cancelled due to the excessive heat. Apparently the 2 hour hiking tour is fairly strenuous and they just don’t risk it when it is this hot.

We still toured all the exhibits in the visitor center and took in the perfunctory video. While we were disappointed at missing the hike, something happened on our way back to Amarillo that emphasized just how hot it was. About half way back a warning light came on in the Saturn that I have never seen before. It looked like it was an overheating warning light, but I checked the engine temperature gauge and while running a bit warmer than normal, it was not overheating. The Woman got out the owner manual and looked up the nature of the warning light. Had it been illuminated solidly, it indeed would signify the engine overheating. This was flashing symbol, and the manual indicated that the temperature of the automatic transmission fluid had reached a critical level. The manual said that you had to pull over, put the transmission in park and let it idle until the light went off. It took about 20 minutes to settle down enough for the light to go off, but it finally did.

It appears that we made some good choices on skipping the long hikes.

Talk to you soon!