Recent rain leads Palo Duro Canyon State Park to close trails, limit high traffic areas

CANYON, Texas (KVII) — Eight inches of rain in less than a month is forcing Palo Duro Canyon State Park in Randall County to close trails and limit access to a few of the high visitation areas.

What is closed and why do these steps have to be taken by park officials as more rain is expected to move across the region?

“We have a section of the road that is closed and then all of the trails are closed after we had that flash flood Friday morning that displaced all of our hiking trail bridges,” said Thomas Milone, assistant park superintendent.

“The closing of the trails as a result of so much rainfall at Palo Duro Canyon State Park, it’s not just a safety factor it’s also a result of protecting natural resources here at the park.”

“When you get too much rain too fast it saturates the ground and this soil here it just turns into mud and mush,” said Milone.

Between the Lighthouse parking lot to the Cactus day-use area that section of road is closed.

Milone tells ABC 7 News the campsites are open but cautioned their extremely muddy. He adds there’s no exact time for when they can reopen the trails and bridges.

“It’s tough to say how long exactly it takes,” said Milone. “It all depends on how bright and sunny and how windy it gets. The wind helps out. We need a couple of days in a row of no rain where we can dry out and put those bridges back and open it back up to the public.”

“I’m grieving the trails being closed but at the same time I’m so grateful to be here that the park is open,” said Zach Simmons, a park visitor. “Make sure when you come out you’ve got your hydration pack you’ve got your sunscreen you want to throw in some electro lights and not just be drinking straight water.”

More rain is in the forecast and it comes at a time when the park is gearing up for a busy holiday weekend. To date, more than 138,000 people have visited the park this year.

“Visitation is definitely trending upward,” said Simmons. “We are in peak time for State Parks right now and were approaching Memorial weekend so were expecting a lot of people here at the park.”

Despite all the trails being closed at Palo Duro Canyon State Park, the visitor attraction remains open at its normal time for days and hours.