Adventure in Palo Duro Canyon

My brother took a trip to Big Bend National Park, the lucky bastard, for a weekend of hiking and backpacking around the Chisos Mountains with his 10 year old son, Tyler. I would have liked to have gone along, but I didn't want to leave Marie at home on Valentine's Day and I had to go to work on Monday, so I would have ended up driving 18 hours for only one night of camping. Anyway, it had been awhile since my last outdoor adventure and I was beginning to get a little grumpy. Just ask Marie. So Friday morning after dropping the kids off at school I headed out to visit Palo Duro to get a little outside time to try to relax a bit. When I arrived, I bought a state park pass which will allow me to enter all parks in Texas for free for a whole year, which I have been meaning to do since we got here, then headed out to the Lighthouse trail (nice run-on sentence, huh Rachel). On The Lighthouse Formation is a big stone pillar that rises a few hundred feet into the air and if you ever see a picture of the canyon, it is usually a picture of the Lighthouse. I have now been out to the Lighthouse several times, so I decided to try out a new trail that leads away from the Lighthouse trail after about a quarter of a mile. It proved to be a great decision. As I jogged along the trail I scared up a cottontail rabbit and crossed paths with a four-point mule deer and his female companion. I followed the trail for a couple of miles then came upon a great pile of limestone boulders, perfect for practicing some rock climbing on. Evidently others had been there before as one of the rocks had "Brian's Castle" and "Dan" carved into it. After hopping around the boulders for a few minutes, I continued up the trail to the top of the mesa and the canyon rim. Here the trail disappeared. I had absolutely no desire to backtrack the several miles I had already come, so I went off trail in the general direction of the parking lot and trail head. After tip-toeing as daintily as I could around the dozens of patches of prickly pear, not always successfully, and getting scratched up a little by mesquite trees, which only grow about 8 feet high in this dry climate, I made it back to the canyon rim overlooking my truck about a mile away. I had no other choice but to scramble down a steep wash filled with little boulders and loose gravel. It is at times like this, when you know one slip could leave you stranded, off the main trail, and in trouble, that you truly begin to feel alive. I may be over-reacting to my own, not fear, but excitement, but I certainly felt a sense of necessity to be extremely cautious. I safely descended to the canyon floor and made it back to my truck on shaky legs from the eccentric contractions of walking downhill. On the way out of the park I passed a flock of 29 wild turkeys. I couldn't resist the temptation to do my best impression of a tom turkey as I stuck my tongue out and shook my head as fast I could to try to imitate a gobble sound. It must have been good because ten hens came running up to my truck. I didn't have any food for them so I drove out of the park feeling fully satisfied and ready to go back into the real world. I love being outside and on Friday, as the Abbey quote goes, my trail was "crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view".