Caprock Canyons State Park
while dodging the winter wind and rain
Caprock Canyons, in Quitaque. Is known for having the last Bison herd in Texas and beautiful canyon landscaping. It really gives me Sedona vibes.
Along with the Bison, you can enjoy watching the bats, hike, ride horses, biking, camping, geocaching, or, if you’re like us and the weather wasn’t the greatest, you can take the scenic drive to enjoy the park. If visiting in good weather and for a few days, you can dip your toes in Lake Theo. Lake Theo is a no wake lake that offers fishing and swimming.
I recently planned a trip to Caprock Canyons, sister to the Palo Duro Canyon. I had been watching the weather for a few weeks; debating booking an Airbnb for the trip. Usually, we will van camp or boondock (that helps alleviate the stress of me committing to anything). I looked at the temperature and decided that option would not be working for us this time around. With the bus not being done, no travel trailer, all pull-up camping booked, the weather getting down into the 30s - rain, possible snow AND I couldn’t switch the dates of the trip. I crossed my fingers, went ahead and booked the Airbnb.
From Round Rock, TX it’s a 6 hour and 14 minute drive. The entire drive was rain, and my thought was, well, if nothing else we can drive the scenic drive and see what we can see. However, just as we were paying for our day pass ($5 for anyone over 13) the rain subsided! In the headquarters you can find an array of souvenir shirts, picture books and information. Did you know that bison are native to North America and buffalo are only found in Asia and Africa? Fun facts for the kids. The ranger there said the weather was looking to get nasty and for the littles, she suggested we take the Upper South Prong Trail.
It is advised that you keep 50 yards away from the bison to be safe. If you’re curious about how far that is, there is metal artwork of the bison at the headquarters, and a sign that lets you know, the metal bison over there…is the distance you need to keep to be safe. I appreciated that!
Previous to the trip, I made the mistake of showing the girls a TikTok video of a hiker that was gored by the bison because she wasn’t following safety measures. The girls were hoping I would just have a map that showed where the bison were so we knew where to be. If only!
The Upper South Prong Trail was recommended due to being down in the canyon where it wouldn’t be quite so windy. I was happy for the advice as I was managing my expectations on what the kids could handle with this weather, also the fact that we haven’t been hiking as much. I knew their stamina wouldn’t be the greatest. The trail is 2.6 miles one way with an average hiking time of 2 hours. It is labeled as challenging…from what we hiked, it wasn’t bad at all. The trail itself was well maintained and absolutely beautiful with the rock formations and red dirt.
Let me tell you, it’s a whole other level to be hiking and keeping an eye out for a bison could be anywhere on the trail. Although, they definitely left plenty of reminders along the trail!
If you follow the upper south prong trail all the way, it will lead into the fern cave where natural springs create a perfect environment for fern to grow along the cave wall and overhang. From the fern cave you can follow that to the Haynes ridge trail (the most popular trail) or the north prong trail system. It’s quite lovely how it all links together.
There are a few different areas to camp. Around the main RV camping area you’ll find a basic swing and slide set and some paved trails for walking around the area. Be careful walking around that area. There were some very stiff stickers that stuck to the bottom of all our shoes.
After our hike, we drove the scenic road and stopped at the couple places they had along the way. All the bison we saw were on the road, which gave us a closer view as they walked right by us!
Although the weather put a little damper on our time there, we still enjoyed the beauty of the canyons and the excitement of seeing bison! We will definitely be back!
