We got up early this morning to beat the heat and managed to get to the Lighthouse trailhead by 8:30 a.m., when it was still only 70 degrees. The park trail map warns, "Do take plenty of water, as most heat-related injuries and deaths to people and pets occur on this trail." Caution duly noted, we carried five 20 oz. bottles of water.
The trail is rated as moderate, but most of it is quite easy, and the scenery is spectacular. Parts of the trail are washed out or rutted from the many flash floods in the canyon, so we were glad to have our hiking sticks.
The first sight we came to was Capitol Peak.
At about 1.4 miles, we came to a viewpoint and got our first glimpses of our destination, the iconic Lighthouse formation, which is a National Natural Landmark and the symbol of the park.
At the 2.7 mile mark, we found a picnic table and a sign indicating "End of Trail," but we knew from our online research that it was possible to get to the base of the formation via a .3 mile rock scramble. You can't actually see the Lighthouse from the end of the trail. I left Ken at the picnic table with my backpack and headed up what is basically a rocky watercourse.
The effort was definitely worthwhile. The formation is quite impressive close up.
It is also possible to climb the formation itself, but I left that to younger, stronger climbers. On the way down, I encountered something unusual: a person with very loud speakers in his backpack. Definitely didn't add to the ambiance!
When I got back down to the picnic table, Ken had company. Several mountain bikers had arrived, including one man with a young daughter out for her first "real" mountain bike ride. Ken said that man was a helicopter pilot and had told him that the guy with the loud music was "the kind of person I often have to rescue in the canyon."
We were glad to get back to the trailhead by 12:30 p.m. We encountered many other hikers who were getting a later start than we did. It was over 90 degrees when we got back to the truck, and we had used a good bit of our water. I wouldn't have wanted to be out on the trail any later in the day.
On the way out of the park we stopped to take a few photos. Here's the Fortress Cliff.
We stopped at the Interpretive Center near the entrance. It includes some really nice displays on the geology and history of the canyon. We were a bit taken aback to see and hear some references to "hostiles" and "red boys" in the story of Colonel McKenzie and the Battle of Palo Duro Canyon. McKenzie and his troops were sent to run the Comanche, Kiowa, Cheyenne and other warriors back to the reservation. The troops captured 1,500 to 2,000 horses, which McKenzie ordered slaughtered to prevent the Native Americans from recapturing them.
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