Palo Duro Canyon State Park closes trails due to flooding damages and safety concerns

CANYON, Texas (KVII) — As of Tuesday, all trails at Palo Duro Canyon State Park are closed. Concerns over floodwaters and potential damage to the grounds from people hiking is why the park staff closes the trails.

Despite notification alerts and education about the park’s environment and safety, there are times when some visitors elect to not follow the rules.

“So with us shutting down the trail system, currently looking at reopening them sometimes that can take a couple of days to a week,” said Haley Richardson, trails & resources manager.

“People sometimes forget that the canyon is a canyon right,” said Zach McMeans, assistant superintendent. “So if we're getting a half inch to seven-tenths of an inch up there, it’s going to be coming down on the park.”

Signs are posted at the entry of Palo Duro Canyon State Park and the entry of the trails informing visitors the trails are closed due to the rain but some people do choose to ignore the trail closed signs.

“That’s a two-fold issue for us, one is the fact that our mission with Texas Parks & Wildlife is to conserve the natural cultural resources,” said McMeans. “When people get on their trails and they're saturated you're looking at soil compaction you're looking at damage to our vegetation but two it’s a safety issue.”

“If someone falls or has an injury out on the trailway it's harder for us to be able to get out there because we are not able to get our UTVs out there and you know get equipment to rescue you in a timely manner,” said Richardson.

Reducing damage to the trails is imperative. This marks the second closure of trails in less than 30 days during the spring due to the rain.

“Last time we shut down the trails was the ending of spring break and we didn’t have a lot of good feedback from that which was sad,” said Richardson. “We are working on the education aspect to get people more informed for safety for people but also safety here for our resources in the canyon.

Park alerts on the main webpage for Palo Duro Canyon State Park and their social media platforms will let you know once the trails are opened up for public use.

What’s needed after a good soaking rain or a heavy rainfall event is a couple of days of sun with warm weather and a slight breeze.