Hiking in the Oklahoma and Texas Panhandles

[Aaron Zagrodnick]

The Texas panhandle shares the eastern and western borders of the Oklahoma appendage of the same name, and runs south to form a square region encompassing a large segment the vast Llano Estacado, or “staked plains,” one of the largest mesas on the North American continent. Its flatness, unfortunately, is probably the most noticeable feature of the Texas panhandle for those traversing the region, once called “The Great American Desert,” at 80 miles per hour on Interstate 40. The superficial plainness of these panhandles belies their hiking treasures. In the far northwest corner of the Oklahoma panhandle rises Black Mesa, spreading across invisible lines demarcating the limits of three states. And in the center of the Texas panhandle just south of Amarillo, a spectacular gorge named Palo Duro (meaning “hard wood” in Spanish) plunges up to 800 feet through the caprock of the Llano Estacado, creating the nation’s second largest canyon system...

@Susan Dragoo introduces us to hiking opportunities in the panhandle regions of Oklahoma and Texas - take a look at the full story in Issue 50:

A Tale of Two Panhandles: Hiking the Distant Corners of Oklahoma and Texas

Issue 50 Page 1