Thursday, February 10, 2011

Caprock Canyons

Canon T2i, EF 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5
Caprock Canyons State Park is quaintly situated nearly equidistant between Turkey (where you can find a restaurant that "specializes" in Mexican and American food) and Silverton, Texas. The nearest municipality to the park is Quitaque (pronounced "Kitty-quay"), with a burgeoning population of 432 folks. Now you know exactly where I'm talking about, right?


Caprock Canyon claims to be the home of the "Official Texas State Bison Herd," but metal cutouts and statues aside, my father and I saw nary-a-one. We were privy to some feral pigs and a couple small herd of deer, not to mention the more than plentiful roadkill, which was pretty standard fare - just your average collection of opossum and armadillo. 

Canon T2i, EF 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5
Canon T2i, EF 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5

Caprock Canyon is the little brother of the better known Palo Duro Canyon, about 90 miles to the northwest. Palo Duro, which is near Amarillo, is both larger and more commercialized than the appreciably more desolate Caprock. For additional information about Caprock Canyons State Park, you can find its website here.

Canon T2i, Tokina AT-X Pro 12-24mm f/4

Canon T2i, EF 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5

This little 9-hour round-trip to and from desolate West Texas served as the maiden voyage for my then-newly-acquired Canon T2i and Tokina AT-X 12-24mm f/4 lens. It was also the first Texas road trip I was to have taken in some time, so off Dad and I went at 4:15am in early January. And the further west we trekked, the further the thermometer plummeted. But aside from the decidedly frigid temperatures, it couldn't have been a better outing.

Canon T2i, EF 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5

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