Palo Duro Canyon State Park, Canyon, Texas, October 22, 2012

 After leaving Salt Plains, OK en route to Muleshoe, Texas for our third refuge, we spent an afternoon at the Palo Duro Canyon State Park, just south of Amarillo, TX. My travel book said it is a "must-see" natural landmark and it certainly is! We had a very warm summer-like day, with temps in the low 90's. This made our five-mile hike to the "lighthouse" rock formation a little more challenging. It felt great to be out hiking and the sun did feel good. These images are all from the day in the canyon.

 We took advantage of every piece of shade we could find along the trail for water and snack breaks.

 There were colorful plants and flowers throughout the hike. It was always nice to see them.

 The 60-mile canyon is sculpted by the Prairie Dog Town fork of the Red River over the past 90 million years. Palo Duro is Spanish for "hardwood"and is a geology buff's dream as there are layers of colored rock and shale at every juncture. The colors of red, orange, yellow, white, and browns are seen throughout the canyon. The surrounding area of the Texas panhandle is flat and relatively treeless. It is a shock to drive up through that landscape to this gigantic and colorful hole in the ground!

You can see in the above photo just how steep the trail became at the end of the climb.  

 Here is Oliver at the lighthouse - we made it! The views were fabulous. 

 We are almost back to the car for more food and water, and the two-hour drive on to Muleshoe!

Salt Plains, Oklahoma, October 8 - October 20, 2012

We had a great time at Salt Plains, OK National Wildlife Refuge! We loved touring around the refuge, we got a lot of work done, spent time with Sarah and Tiffany (two of our trainers from the National Fish & Wildlife office in Ft Collins, CO), felt really comfortable in the bunkhouse, and enjoyed working with the entire staff there. We also got our first glimpses of Sandhill Cranes, that were flying in for the winter. We would stop work to go out on our porch to watch them fly overhead. These two photos were taken on the vast grounds of the 32,000 acre refuge.

We set up shop right in the bunkhouse where there was plenty of good working space.  

You can see the kitchen in the background and the doorway to our bedroom.

Here is our bedroom. Oliver took the bottom bunk and I enjoyed the bed with a front row seat 

to the big bright stars that you could see from the pillow. One morning I looked out to see a family of deer just five feet from the window. The bunkhouse had a second bedroom and each room 

had its own bathroom. It was large and very comfortable. 

This is a view from the porch on the bunkhouse.

We hiked the "Eagle Roost" nature trail twice - once with Sarah and Tiffany and once on the final Saturday of our stay. Here are some scenes from the trail.

We appreciated the help that Sarah and Tiffany provided during their visit. We are getting much 

faster and efficient with our scanning and uploading skills, thanks largely to their direction. Here they are in the "Catalpa Grove"(trees) along the Eagle Roost trail. 

Yes, armadillos roam free around the refuge. We saw our first one during our first hike, but saw them frequently throughout our visit. They are very funny to watch because they grind their noses in the dirt to eat bugs and grubs. As they use their front claws to dig the holes, the dirt goes flying! Because they are so busy and focused on eating, that they do not even realize you are there. 

We visited the "Sandy Beach" of the refuge a few times. Unfortunately, the area is in an extreme drought, so the water levels all around the refuge are very low.

Of the 32,000 acres of the refuge, 10,000 of them are the great salt flats (see below), a giant area of white, salty sand that borders the lake (which you can also see from the sandy beach). It was the most amazing and unusual thing we had ever seen. We took quite a few photos and walked around as much as we could while we were there. 

One of the coolest things about the great salt flats is that it creates selenite crystals that you can dig for in a specified area of the refuge. We went twice; the first time with Sarah and Tiffany who were not shy about getting on their hands and knees in the wet, salty sand to dig for these unusual treasures. 

You can see the photo of these special "hour-glass" crystals from the refuge brochure below. 

They came in all shapes and sizes and were super-fun to dig for. 

Sunset on the great salt flats. Oliver and I loved going there.

Oliver on the bunkhouse porch. 

Bonham Pond was a short walk from the bunkhouse and we went often as a nice break from the scanning. Oliver enjoyed throwing stones and pebbles in the pond.

Above is some of the many information signs that were around the refuge. Below is a photo of the visitor's center and office headquarters - all very close to the bunkhouse.

Dusk at Bonham Pond (above).  Below is a small cafe in Nescatunga (a town whose 

name means "big salt water), just 10 minutes from the bunkhouse. 

They made a delicious lunch of cheeseburgers and fries - yummy.

You can see the great salt flats in the background of the photo below. With this vast white horizon visible from many different viewpoints, it sometimes looked like you were near the ocean.

Yellow wildflowers, cattle, water windmills and long, flat roads - all part of the 

scenery around the refuge. 

Above and below are more images of the salt flats. You can see my long shadow in the photo above. The sunsets in this part of the country are long and beautiful as the horizon is so vast.

More images of the great salt flats.

More images of the salt flats, including the observation deck and the entrance to the crystal digging site.

Here is Oliver checking out the sites through a telescope along the sandpiper trail on the north end of the salt flats. We hit all of the trails and as many of the backroads as possible and enjoyed it all.

For thousands of years the Native Americans came to the salt flats to harvest salt. They hunted the birds and animals that were also drawn to the Salt Plains and nearby wetlands. Today the refuge hosts visitors who come to dig the hourglass crystals unique to this area, created by the combination 

ofwater, sand, salt, and other minerals found in the soil here. This part of the refuge is also home to the endangered interior least tern and dozens of other shore birds. 

"Birding" is another popular thing to do here.

The sign below belongs to the restaurant above - a gem of a place in Ingersol, OK; the Smok Shak. Some of the best barbeque we have ever eaten. We knew it must be good when we drove 

by it the first time and the parking lot was packed. We went three times during our two 

week stay in Salt Plains - yummy. 

There are a lot of oil rigs in this part of the Oklahoma, so scenes like above and below are common. 

Thankfully, there was good internet in the bunkhouse so we were able to experience both the jubilation and complete misery of watching the Yankees in the post-season. In this photo, we are using two laptops so that we can also watch one of the presidential debates. 

A flock of wild turkeys outside the bunkhouse. We saw them roaming around the refuge often.

Oliver outside the bunkhouse. 

This is Glen, the refuge biologist. The staff made us feel so welcome during our stay. It is amazing how much work a small crew of people can do. Can you imagine managing 32,000 acres of land?

Some more of the sights around Bonham Pond.

If you look closely, you can see the Sandhill Cranes flying overhead in the photo below. Many of the country's wildlife refuges exist because of their importance to a particular migratory route. Some Sandhill Cranes use Salt Plains as their final winter resting stop while others use it as a place to rest en route to another refuge further to the south. 

There was a front-muzzle loader deer hunt during the second weekend of our visit. This involved only 30 hunters who were each allowed two doe. This was a controlled hunt, to help the refuge manage the deer population. Even though they were no where near the area of the visitor's center and bunkhouse, I felt the need to play it safe (hence, the orange vest). I have heard too many stories from our years in Vermont of hunting accidents, some involving hunters actually shooting the people they are with!

A dinner out on payday! This one at the Steakhouse Station in Cherokee, OK, about 20 minutes from the refuge. Cherokee is also the town with the closest grocery store.

More beautiful sunsets along the Oklahoma skyline.

The grocery store sign below. We discovered "cherry mash" candy at this store, something we had not seen before. It is a combination of chocolate, cherries and nuts and is very sweet and yummy.

The entrance to the Eagle Roost trail.

One of the many marshes on the refuge - all designed as places with plenty of food for the 

visiting Sandhill Cranes. The staff works year round to insure that the appropriate plants are 

grown in these marshes and around the refuge so there is ample food for all of the birds to eat 

during the winter (and summer) months. 

This is Barry, the Asst. Manager of the refuge. We are sorry that we did not get photos of Colby, Shelby, Greg, Bobby and Roger - all staffers who we met during our visit. We had a hard time leaving there as we were so comfortable during our visit and liked everyone we met. 

What a friendly part of the country.

This is a map of the refuge. You can also learn more about Salt Plains National Wildlife refuge by going to their website:  saltplains.fws.gov/