# Gonna start on that bucket list in June - Caprock Canyon



## AtokaGhosthorse (Oct 17, 2016)

The two kind strangers I rode with Saturday enthusiastically recommended Caprock Canyon State Park in Texas... and I am chuffed! Us ladies that ride together are going to do it, first week of June. It's a 5.5 - 6 hour drive, with Wichita Falls, TX being the halfway mark for us, so we'll likely stop there and get something eat, let the horses take a break, before heading on out.



THEY HAVE BUFFALO! And not just ANY buffalo... no, these buffalo have no cattle dna in them (Unlike, I guess... other free range herds?) Mule deer, porcupines, bobcats, eagles, Barbery Sheep... so many cool animals. I'm wondering if Trigger can outrun a Buffalo and not trip over a porcupine in the process, because that is the kind of weird stuff that happens to me.



And about 8 miles away, is Pole Canyon Ranch - which may be a bit nicer to stay at since they have water and electric at each RV pad. The state park says it has water for horses only, and no bathrooms... yet I find conflicting information in the reviews, people praising their nice new bathrooms, so more research is needed.


BEHOLD THE PICTURES! It looks like something out of Sergio Leone movie, or The Lone Ranger!


----------



## ksbowman (Oct 30, 2018)

That looks like a ranch I hunted on in west Texas. It too had Aoudad sheep as well as a bunch of other wild game. There were large canyons like you are showing and rough cliffs and mesa. Looks like a fun ride and camp. Good luck and have fun!


----------



## weeedlady (Jul 19, 2014)

Stunning. Please share your adventure when it happens!


----------



## whisperbaby22 (Jan 25, 2013)

Yes, I look forward to your photos.


----------



## AtokaGhosthorse (Oct 17, 2016)

Not gonna lie. I'm both nervous and excited... also somewhat aggravated...

My husband has repeatedly wanted to go back to Yellowstone or go see the Grand Canyon, and while this is neither place, you have a lot of the same wildlife (He's a hunter and someone with great appreciation of nature) as Yellowstone with similar landscape to the GC.


He's much too busy to go, and my goodness that LONNNNGGGG 5+ hour drive.... (But we'll make time to go bass fish weekend after weekend, and yes, of course, a 24 hour drive to Yellowstone is NBD.)


So. He can kiss off. I decided after yesterday I would not ask him to go camping with me again, nor am I going to plan trips to places we would both enjoy or with lakes he'd be able to fish while I ride. I can adventure off just fine without him.


----------



## ksbowman (Oct 30, 2018)

AtokaGhosthorse said:


> Not gonna lie. I'm both nervous and excited... also somewhat aggravated...
> 
> My husband has repeatedly wanted to go back to Yellowstone or go see the Grand Canyon, and while this is neither place, you have a lot of the same wildlife (He's a hunter and someone with great appreciation of nature) as Yellowstone with similar landscape to the GC.
> 
> ...


 I learned that lesson many years ago. My wife and I have different interests too. We both go many places together but, I encourage her to also go places with her friends and I go with my friends to hunt. I see nothing wrong with that. She went with my daughters and older grandkids to New York city about a year ago and had a great time. I haven't lost anything in New York city so have no desire to go there. I'd prefer a wilderness area any day. As far as I know God hasn't told me when my expiration date is, so I want to do as much as I can till then!


----------



## AtokaGhosthorse (Oct 17, 2016)

ksbowman said:


> I learned that lesson many years ago. My wife and I have different interests too. We both go many places together but, I encourage her to also go places with her friends and I go with my friends to hunt. I see nothing wrong with that. She went with my daughters and older grandkids to New York city about a year ago and had a great time. I haven't lost anything in New York city so have no desire to go there. I'd prefer a wilderness area any day. As far as I know God hasn't told me when my expiration date is, so I want to do as much as I can till then!



Ah, yes... but you didn't sit around and talk about how badly you wanted to go to New York City, then repeatedly decline to go with your wife.


Hubs sits around and mopes about not going camping as a family, not making road trips to see things like the GC. Yet when offered the opportunity, he's much too busy. See, he has a hard time telling everyone else "no", so he ends up sucked into all this busy-ness that's so vitally important and he's a good guy, can be counted on to be there and help (at whatever it is) and yet at home, we can't get him to take time to do things with us because he's too busy with everyone else - because he's such a dependable guy. Then he gets too many plates spinning, they start to fall off the sticks, then he has a huge meltdown because he's too busy. As my dad says: When that happens, we have to let him stew in his own juices. As I say: I just let him run to the end of his chain, then choke himself out. I don't try to help him out of his busy-ness anymore.



So. He can't say no to anyone but me. There's some much deeper issues here, and if it was just the different interests thing, without the whining and crying to go do those very things I'm going and doing, I wouldn't mind. It's frustrating, to say the least, but yes. I'm done trying to involve him. He can just go do for everyone else. I'll go do for myself and when she's old enough, I'll take my granddaughter along and go and do with and for her.


----------



## charrorider (Sep 23, 2012)

AtokaGhosthorse. Palo Duro Canyon State Park is only a few miles from the Caprock Canyon. Both are south of Amarillo, TX. Palo Duro Canyon is over 100 miles long, the second longest in the US after the GC. I was planning on riding in the Palo Duro Canyon right about now, thinking that perhaps it was going to be too hot and the rattle snakes too active when the weather got warmer. But a radical prostatectomy changed those plans. Just out of curiosity, what are the temps going to be in June? And have a great time.


----------



## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

Wow, that looks spectacular. I don't blame you for probably not dragging him along. You don't need to hear him complain the whole time anyway! :lol: Crazy when something comes up, they all of a sudden have no interest. :icon_rolleyes: Stubborn men. Really though, that looks amazing.


----------



## AtokaGhosthorse (Oct 17, 2016)

charrorider said:


> AtokaGhosthorse. Palo Duro Canyon State Park is only a few miles from the Caprock Canyon. Both are south of Amarillo, TX. Palo Duro Canyon is over 100 miles long, the second longest in the US after the GC. I was planning on riding in the Palo Duro Canyon right about now, thinking that perhaps it was going to be too hot and the rattle snakes too active when the weather got warmer. But a radical prostatectomy changed those plans. Just out of curiosity, what are the temps going to be in June? And have a great time.



Annual averages look like mid 80s to very low 90s with an upper 40% to lower 50% humidty... so about like it is here at home the same time of year, but with less rain.


I figure this will be one ride where I take The Judge, loaded with 410 shells, on the rides with me. I don't want to juggle a shotgun in a scabbard on my saddle, tbh.


----------



## AtokaGhosthorse (Oct 17, 2016)

Under the advice of knowledgeable people - we are moving this to October or even November. Apparently the end of May through September is Rattlesnake season... 

So. Us girls are changing plans. We are going to Galveston to camp, sans horses. Going to Caprock after the first freeze drives the rattlesnakes, and apparently swarms of biting flies, back into the ground.


----------

