Below the Horizon

Last year, in late Fall, my daughter and I took a day trip to Paladuro Canyon, two hours north of here, which we documented in words and photographs, and which I covered in a previous blog. So about a month ago, as another Fall moved in, and as my daughter was preparing to move out (all the way to San Francisco) I proposed another daytrip/photo shoot/mother/daughter roadtrip, this time to Caprock Canyon, a lesser known sister of Paladuro, not as flashy or deep, not as big, but just as easy to get to. Caprock Canyon is also a two hour drive but this time, instead of going straight north, we struck out at a northeast angle. Unlike the previous trip which took place on a dazzlingly bright, sunny day, this time we were driving in and out of rain under low-hanging clouds, which gave us a greater sense of isolation and emptiness as we drove across the flatlands to the edge of the caprock.

We saw this field of bailed hay just past Floydada, a town billed as the "Pumpkin Capitol of the World". I always want to like the small towns around Lubbock, to find something rustic and charming about them, but in truth they look shabby, worn down, and quite lacking in aesthetic appeal. I preferred the wide empty spaces and the cool, grey sky, and we pretty much had the road to ourselves.
Naomi did not remember but we had been to Caprock Canyon in 1992 when she and Ian were small, joined by my mother, plus my brother and his wife and kids. I recall that it was a blazing hot day in summer, and though we hiked a little way up the trail, neither my mother nor the kids were up for a long walk, so we mainly looked for rocks, enjoyed the view, and ate a picnic lunch.

Here is the canyon in 1992. That's Naomi in the middle with her cousin, Laura, and brother, Ian.

In Lubbock when you want to go UP you drive west towards Santa Fe and the mountains, and when you want to go DOWN you drive east for about 45 minutes until you literally come to the edge of the high plains. The caprock runs north and south for about 200 miles, the result of centuries of water spill off from the Rockies, and lots of shifting and erosion. Some parts of it are very subtle changes in elevation, and others, like Paladuro, appear as if the earth has just opened up and taken you by surprise. In all cases it is a nice surprise to the senses, after the straight and endless horizon line.

Meanwhile in 2012 we ate lunch in Quitique (the local sign adds a friendly prompt "Kitty-kay") then we turned up the road to Caprock Canyon, and after about five miles, it was just there. It's hard to explain. We neither went up or down, there was no sudden change in scenery except the distant rock walls, but still on fairly flat ground was the visitor center, and there was our first greeter, a buffalo wandering across the road, who we immediately named Randy.

He wandered off to join the rest of the herd, who live in the park, while we perused the gift shop and got a map. Caprock is much smaller than Paladuro, with less traffic, but even so, there were campers coming in for the weekend. On our first venture out of the car to view the opening glimpse of the terrain, a large tarantula ambled our way. I have no problem with tarantulas. I have even held one. They are quite peaceful, although this one stepped into an ant bed and was in peril of being swarmed so we made sure he got himself free to continue his daily walk.

I shot that photo and the one of Naomi with my cell phone because I discovered my camera battery was dead. All of the other photos taken that day are courtesy of Naomi and her superior camera and skills. We drove a bit, we walked a bit, we went down to the river bed, which, despite the rain and the recent greening of vegetation, was just as dry as it was in 1992.
Here are a few of her images:

I highly recommend this book written by our friend, Dan Flores, in 1989. He now lives in Montana but for a few years he was a professor of environmental history at Texas Tech and the wild man of Yellowhouse Canyon, outside Lubbock, who used to have summer solstice parties out there.

And I brought back a few small souvenirs: