Lauren Ducommun

We almost didn’t stop at Caprock Canyon State Park on our roadtrip through west Texas, but I’m so glad we did! It ended up being everyone’s favorite Texas State Park to visit on our roadtrip! Caprock Canyon State Park is located around 4.5 hours west of Fort Worth and 2.5 hours south of Amarillo, but we came straight from Copper Breaks State Park on our way to Palo Duro Canyon State Park.

Caprock Canyon was so impressive, and I wish we had planned more time to explore! As soon as we crossed the cattle guard into the state park, we saw our first buffalo! (Or bison). My kids and I loved the Visitor’s Center, and that’s where we saw our first views of the Palo Duro Canyon! It was breathtaking!

From there we began our drive through the park, with the first stop to visit the Prairie Dog Town! My son is obsessed with prairie dogs, so watching this goofy rodents pop out of the ground or yell at us, was the highlight of the whole road trip! There was a playground surrounded by prairie dogs, so the kids enjoyed having their lunch there.

We continued on the scenic route all the way to the South Prong parking lot. It was so beautiful! It was out past the North Prong road that we saw our second bison, just munching on some grass on the side of the road.

We didn’t have time to go on a hike, but we took in the beautiful views of the canyon and walked around the South Prong parking lot. It was on the trail to the chemical toilet that we saw our first horny toad (or horned lizard)! After searching everywhere at Copper Breaks State Park, we were so happy to finally see one in the wild!