And then there is the land itself. Palo Duro Canyon — the second-largest canyon in the United States, carved by a fork of the Red River into 800-foot walls of layered red and gold — opens up about 25 miles southeast, with the Lighthouse Rock formation as its signature and rim-to-floor trails for hikers and campers. West of town on the old Route 66 alignment stands Cadillac Ranch, the 1974 installation by the art collective Ant Farm: ten Cadillacs buried nose-down in a wheat field, repainted daily by visitors, as pure a piece of American roadside art as exists anywhere.
For centuries before the rails, the Llano Estacado — the Staked Plains — was Comanchería: the homeland of the Comanche, and of the Kiowa and Apache before and beside them. Francisco Vázquez de Coronado crossed these plains in 1541 hunting the Seven Cities of Cíbola, and for three centuries afterward the high plains belonged to the horse nations and the great bison herds. The 1874 Red River War, whose decisive engagement came at the Battle of Palo Duro Canyon, ended the Comanche era; within two years Charles Goodnight had driven cattle into the canyon to found the JA Ranch, and the open-range ranching age began.
Why People Visit Amarillo Texas
- Drive a stretch of historic Route 66 through the Sixth Street Historic District, with vintage storefronts, antiques, and diners.
- Visit Palo Duro Canyon State Park, the "Grand Canyon of Texas" and the second-largest canyon in the country.
- Tour the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame and Museum, honoring the West's working horse.
- See Cadillac Ranch, the famous row of nose-down Cadillacs along Interstate 40.
- Stop at the Big Texan Steak Ranch, a Route 66 icon of Panhandle cattle country.
