Caprock Canyons State Park, TX

April12-13, 2016
 
Caprock Canyons was recommended by a Texas park interpreter at City of Rocks State Park way back at the beginning of March.  The lure of seeing a herd of bison was a big attraction for me and we detoured at least 50 miles each way from Amarillo, TX on our way East to get to this state park.
We were not disappointed!  Not only did we see the bison, but we enjoyed the beauty of the park, hiked up a challenging trail to be rewarded with spectacular views and delighted in the park's "prairie dog" town. 

A prairie dog (in the foreground) looking at some of the bison

According to the park's website:
"In September 2011, 80 descendants of the great southern plains bison herd were released to roam 700 acres of grasslands in the park.  History was made on Aug. 19, 2014 at Caprock Canyons State Park as cow #120 took the first steps to lead the Texas State Bison Herd into their new range within the park. The herd now has over 10,000 acres to roam. This legendary bison herd was started by famed cattleman Charles Goodnight and his wife Mary Ann in 1878. It is one of the five foundation herds credited with saving this magnificent animal from extinction."

A cow with her young calf

A large male wandering through the campground early on our second morning

For more about the bison herd, see:
http://tpwd.texas.gov/publications/pwdpubs/media/pwd_br_p4506_0079t.pdf

 To give you an idea of the size of these animals, see below...

Hoofprint in our campsite

Big animal, BIG poop!!! (I am not actually touching that, just hovering over it for scale....)

Much as we enjoyed seeing the bison, there was plenty of other wildlife to be seen in the park:

An odd trio: roadrunner and two prairie dogs

A pair of burrowing owls appropriated a prairie dog hole where they were watching over their nest...so pretty!

Surprisingly unafraid mule deer...such BIG ears!

We toured the park's scenic drive and had a wonderfully rewarding hike one morning.  Luckily, we didn't check the rating for the hike's difficulty until after we returned...strenuous....hmmm, yes we would agree!  Not so much the vertical distance (only about 600') but the straight up scramble to the top!

The tiny beige rectangle in the middle of the photo is where we parked our vehicle....

We were somewhat sad to have to leave this wonderful park.  It is definitely among our favourites!!!