palo duro canyon
High up on the Staked Plains--- the "Llano Estacado"--- is Palo Duro Canyon. 20 miles or so south of Amarillo, it is a vast gash in an otherwise featureless plateau. It is said to be haunted by the ghosts of Comanche warriors who fought the last battle against the United States Army here in the 1870's. If they are there, they keep to themselves when I'm around.
There is a feeling of unworldliness about the canyon, though. I guess that's why my brother and I selected this site to view the annular Solar eclipse in 1994. And although we got a nice camping trip out of it, we didn't see much of the eclipse--- it clouded up on us.
 
 
My buddy Jon Power, who was along on the '94 trip, hiked with me out to this feature known as "The Lighthouse", twin towers of sandstone protruding up from the canyon floor. In this photo, I'm near the base of one of the towers, while I photograph Jon approaching the other. We climbed up to the top of this pinnacle, and --- you can see how unthreatening the sky looks here--- as soon as we reached the top, the sky turned dark, a great wind came up, and rain began to fall. We decided maybe someone doesn't want us up here. 
AS SOON as we got down, the weather returned to its former placid state. Who says there are no ghosts here?
On the way out to Palo Duro, we passed through the thriving metropolis of Turkey, Texas. It happens to
be sacred ground, too--- home of Bob Wills, the King of Texas Swing.

All text and photographs1997, Randal P. Dean
E-mail me at
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