Cathedral Gorge State Park | Nevada

On the way to the Cathedral Gorge State Park I passed  a road that takes travelers to an overlook.  As far as I know, it is outside the state park, but impressive.  This area is just south of Pioche, Nevada.

 

This little shelter has been standing for decades, since it was built in the last century when the CCC, Civilian Conservation Corps were in the area.

 

 

I did not stay at the park, but they do have quite a nice campground, including some sites with hookups.

 

There are an abundance of these rock formations.  I always think they look like gigantic rocks that have somehow melted through the years.  In fact, water did have much to do with these scenes, since this area started out as a lake.  Through time, the lake drained and rainfall pounded on these rocks as well as snow freezing and then melting, causing fissures and then erosion.

There is an area called the caves.  Not caves exactly, but paths through these formations that you can disappear into and be surrounded by these tall monoliths.

 

You can see the texture of these rocks, the look like mud, but they are hard-packed rocks.

 

 

Left from last century, in the 1930s, the CCC - Civilian Conservation Corps built two structures in the park, which are still standing.  This one is the water tower, and the other is a toilet building, not in use any longer.

 

 

Palo Duro Canyon State Park | Texas

Palo Duro Canyon has been compared to the Grand Canyon by some people.  The big difference is that you're down among the rock formations, instead of standing on the rim.  There isn't really a rim. 

 

The spire in the photo above is at the very end of the formation in the first photo, but it doesn't show on the first photo because it's so massive.

 

Unfortunately, it was mostly very overcast the day I went, so the photos don't seem to be as striking as they usually are.  Light quality does make a difference!

 

 

Toward the late afternoon, the sunny skies appeared, finally.

 

 

 

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was here in the 1930s and helped build the roads through the park.  This chimney is a remnant of the village where the workers lived.

 

 

In the visitor center, a room is set aside for exhibits on the CCC, this jukebox got my attention!

 

Since this is Texas, they do things in a big way.  These flood gauges were all through the park.  It must have rained quite a bit the previous day, because I had to drive through some wet spots in the road.  This area is all red rock and soil, so the standing water was all reddish.  Unfortunately, it got on the truck and caked on before I got a chance to hose it down.  It took me well over an hour to get all the mud of.  The wheel wells were the worst and I was a bit soggy when I finished.

 

 

Longhorn Cavern State Park

 

 

Another cavern tour – a completely different one.  This cavern was formed with an underground river instead of water dripping from above and forming stalactites and stalagmites and other formations.  This cavern has walls formed by flowing water and are smooth in most areas. 

Years ago, this extensive cavern system was home to many bats, but they have relocated because they were being disturbed by the noise of tours and lights during their daily sleeping time.  There is supposedly a small colony of bats that reside there, possibly in the less-traveled areas – we certainly didn’t see any. 

 

There are multiple tours that can be taken, including one where they provide knee and elbow pads and you get to crawl through small areas and get really dirty.  I opted for the basic tour, just over a mile in length, and it took about an hour and a half.  We walked through areas only 4’ tall and into areas that were as high as a 2 story building. 

 

 

After a quick lunch in their little restaurant, I walked a couple of their hiking trails and explored some of the old buildings built in the 1930s by the CCC.