The Caprock Canyons Trailway

(The Caprock Canyons State Park & Trailway's office is located at 850 Caprock Canyons State Park Road, Quitaque, TX 79255. Their number is 806-455-1492, and the current park manager is named Donald Beard. While I am a volunteer at Caprock Canyons, I do not speak for Caprock Canyons. The story below represents my thoughts, actions, opinions alone. Before planning a trip, please consult the park office for prices, instructions, and advice.)

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When I first read the phrase "Caprock Canyons State Park & Trailway," I naturally imagined that the trailway was within the park's boundaries. Not so.

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There are in effect TWO state parks, both under the Caprock Canyons label. One of these parks is 15,000 acres in size and located three miles north of Quitaque (pronounced KID-UH-KWAY). The other is a 64-mile long rails-to-trails path extending from Estelline to South Plains, with several access points along the way. I used the latter to reach the main park.

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As the trip to Caprock Canyons was a rather long detour away from the Texas perimeter, I was grateful for the 64-mile reprieve from the roads. While the trailway does run close to some roads and crosses several properties due to the path that the old train tracks took, I felt I was walking across the land in virtual privacy and away from the lights of civilization.

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The Caprock Canyons Trailway is divided up into several doable segments, though hikers can do whatever mileage suits their abilities and temperament. I did the following schedule for no particular reason, though knowing what I do now about the location of landmarks, water availability, and the location of the state park, I would probably do things a little differently in the future.

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Every trail segment has a name, and every access point has a name. To simplify matters, I'm omitting the trail segment names and using exclusively the access points as reference points, followed by how many miles I did that day.

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Estelline Terminal: Camped near start (Day 155).

Parnell Station: Camped just before I got here, about 10 miles (Day 156).

Tampico Siding: Camped three miles beyond this point, about 15 miles (Day 157).

Turkey Depot: Stayed in Turkey at the Turkey Hotel, about 7 miles (Day 158).

Quitaque East: Camped at Caprock Canyons State Park, about 10 miles (Day 159).

Quitaque Depot, Monk's Crossing, South Plains Terminal: Got dropped off at QD and picked up at SPT, about 22 miles (Day 162).

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These are the basics. Of course, I'd never leave you with just the basics.

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At Estelline, I had a really nice conversation with the owner of one of the two stores there. He told me how to find the trailway (it's just north of town, outside the city limits), and we chatted about his workers, the changes in the economy, his girlfriend, my project, and life in general.

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Then he tells me this: "You passed Kirkland back there, right? That's where the Texas Chainsaw Massacre took place." He didn't know much beyond that, and our conversation drifted back to more pleasant topics for the rest of the evening.

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I stayed there for over an hour. I had arrived in Estelline at night (not my usual M.O., but that's what I did) and left the store around 9 pm. After a few minutes, I got to the northern end of the trailway at Estelline Terminal and looked around. There was a huge empty parking lot covered in snow. I was relieved not to see any other footprints across the parking lot, but then I got to thinking that I was leaving tracks everywhere, a nifty easy-to-follow trail for the weekend chainsaw enthusiast.

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Estelline Terminal at Night, Day 155

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I had been talking with Annie up until the entrance, but when we hung up, I realized how quiet everything was. So quiet. Maybe the occasional car off in the distance. Then quiet. Then the crunch of my steps. I look behind me. Still quiet. Then an imagined sound. I stop. More quiet. I crunch again, I stop. Only quiet.

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(While the picture above may make it look like it wasn't so bad, the one below is much closer to what I was actually seeing.)

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Estelline Terminal Kiosk, Day 155

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I was freaked out. I started looking for a place to camp, hoping a little shut-eye might calm me down. When I found a latrine by the side of the trail, I didn't think twice about what to do: I went inside, locked the door, and broke camp right next to the crapper.

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The next day, I woke up in one piece and never looked back.
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Mile Marker 238, Day 156

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My subsequent days on the trail held nothing of the self-created fear of that first night. I passed trees and brush covered in snow and ice, lots of critters who just wouldn't stay still for a photo (at least, not after I made a move for the camera), farm land, and of course, the canyons.

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'W' is for 'Whistle!', Day 159
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At first, I thought all the 'W' signs I saw were water spots (I didn't see this particular 'W' sign above until a few days later, but they were all over the trail). Water is not available along the trail during the winter time. Since the weather was freezing, I simply didn't pack any water. I drank back in Estelline and figured I'd muscle my way to Turkey or Quitaque for a refill. The idea itself wasn't terrible given the mildness of the winter sun, but I hadn't counted on the difficulty of hiking in the snow.
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The first day out was really tiring. Though I had eaten a few snacks, I chalked the fatigue up to the lack of water. And every time I saw one of these 'W' signs, I swore at the summertime hikers who had it so easy. I later learned, however, that the 'W' signs were reminders to the train conductors that the train was approaching a public crossing and that they needed to blow the whistle as a warning.
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Icicles, Day 156

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During the next three days, I took to eating icicles. It takes a lot of icicles to make even a few ounces of water, but I would patiently pop them off plants or trees and crunch away. I'd think how easy it would have been to pack a little water and sleep with it in my sleeping bag to keep it from freezing. Then I'd pop some more icicles.

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I saw wild pigs all throughout my first few days and saw where they had rooted up the earth even more. I thought they were nocturnal, but I saw them during the day wandering around in packs. These guys are everywhere.

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What came as a real surprise was camping near a turkey roost. I heard all the turkeys going up into some nearby trees at night, then coming down the next morning. I camped about a quarter mile before Parnell Station. There were well over a hundred wild turkeys, and in the morning, they gobbled and swooped down just ten yards away from my spot.
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Mile Markers 255, Day 157

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I was eating peanuts and bread and icicles, and in spite of the snow and dreary sky, I really put some effort into the second day. These mile markers do wonders for the psyche, as they are posted every mile. The big signs are the old train signs; the smaller ones belong to the state park. I'd see one or the other the entire time and gauge my progress accordingly.
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Canyons!, Day 157

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The land had been mostly farmland with tree groves along the way. Then beautiful snow crusted canyons appeared from nowhere. The sight invigorated me. I had read about how the Comanches would escape into the canyons of the Texas Panhandle for decades and winter there to escape the winds. I tried to imagine the tepees clumped together on the canyon floor, wisps of smoke rising into the sky. I wish I could have been there. Though I was more than a century late, walking through the land made me feel that I had connected with that distant past just a little bit.
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Farmland!, Day 157

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While I would have preferred diving into the canyons, I knew the trailway continued along more farmland. With the snow, many of the fields took on a strange psychedelic look, whimsical even.

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Redberry Juniper, Day 157

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The small details as well as the large were stunning in all of the snow and ice. As Redberry Junipers (or Pinchot Junipers) started becoming more numerous, I noticed that the ice froze differently on them and tended to make large clumps instead of icicles because of the shape of their leaves. This affected me because, while pretty and different, I couldn't eat the ice as easily.

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Luckily, I pulled into Turkey, Texas not long after. I sat down to a meal at the only open restaurant in town, Galvan's, and had a big Mexican platter with lots of water. Later, as I was leaving town, I got lured into the Turkey Hotel which is just a few blocks from the trailway. I got quoted a great price, breakfast included, and just went with it.
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Wilddeath?, Day 159

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As I was hiking into Quitaque, I stumbled upon this hog skull. This is no 'akunamatata' animal. While most of the live ones I saw ran away from me, a hungry hog is something to stay away from. The farmers and rangers out here are sick and tired of these guys. It's the same story all over Texas. They cause a ton of damage and are very hard to control.
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The Plains, Day 162

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I made it to Caprock and holed up for a few days. During that time, it rained and snowed and was generally cold. When the sun finally made a cameo, I dashed through the rest of the trailway, all twenty-two miles of it.
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Los Lingos Bridge, Day 162

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This is the longest bridge on the trailway. I was cruising and stopped only to take a quick picture.

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An Ephemeral Trail, Day 162

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Bat Tunnel, Day 162

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During the summer, the Clarity Tunnel, shown above, attracts many visitors to see the exodus of a large group of Mexican Free-Tailed bats. The bats migrate during the winter, so I was left going through a 580 foot tunnel with the smell of guano in my nose. They say smell is directly associated with taste, but at that moment, I didn't want to think about it.
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The Light at the End of the Tunnel, Day 162

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The Clarity Tunnel is not that long, but it felt like I couldn't finish it fast enough. My eyes were dilating and adjusting, and I couldn't see if anything was along the sides of the tunnels. Someone could have been standing next to a wall, and I wouldn't have seen them.
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Wide Open, Day 162

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South Plains Terminal, Day 162

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My Caprock Canyons supervisor Karen Lanier was nice enough to pick me up at the end of the trailway. She took this shot of my glorious finish.

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The Caprock Canyons Trailway was a wonderful way to spend a few days. If you plan well, you can cruise through all 64 miles with relative ease. The grade never varies from 2% (because of the old train regulations), and the most difficulty I had hiking was from the snow and mud. It's a great trail for getting away from the hubbub of city life and allows for ample sight-seeing and learning.

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(Don't make my same mistakes! You can get food and water in Estelline (at the store before 9pm), Turkey (convenience store, hotel, restaurant durign business hours), and Quitaque (in town or at the park). Hotel accomodations are available in Turkey (Turkey Hotel: 806/423-1733) which is the halfway point.)
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Until next time, trail walkers...