After a long day of driving we arrived at our intended campground, only to find it closed! We had to find an RV park in town and return the next day. The town was Quitaque. Can you pronounce that? No worries, they tell you how on the way into town!

I’m pretty sure that is NOT the Spanish pronunciation!

While waiting for the campground to open, we walked part (5 miles) of the 64 mile long Caprock Trailway, a rails-to-trails trailway. Apparently, along the trail is where old vehicles go to rest. It was very long and straight, and we found a lot of old railroad spikes.

We finally checked into the campground at 2:00 and after setting up camp decided to go take a shower. But we found these guys guarding the showers and dumpsters, so decided to wait a while! They were huge! They seemed bigger than the bison we had seen before. The literature said they were great plains bison and 6 feet tall at the shoulder and 2000 lbs. Plus, they looked kind of grumpy!

On the other side of the restrooms is a prairie dog town. They are so cute and fun to watch! They squeak and whistle warnings whenever anyone gets close and then they shake their tales and all dive into their holes.

At last, we got our first glimpse of the canyon! Actual hiking will have to wait until tomorrow. It was warm here today but a cold front is going through tonight so hiking will be a bit chillier.  No sweating!