Palo Duro Canyon State Park

Palo Duro Canyon State Park
Canyon, Texas (Randall County)
Photo Credit: TEXScout / Texas Film Commission

Stretching 120 miles long and up to 800 feet deep, the Palo Duro Canyon is the second largest canyon system in the United States. On its steep mesa walls, you can see the beautiful colors of the four geologic layers as you descend to the floor of the valley. Early Spanish explorers are believed to have dubbed the canyon “Palo duro”, meaning “hard wood”, in reference to the abundant mesquite and juniper trees populating the open areas.

Texas Parks and Wildlife

Films Featured

The Sundowners (1950)
- In the credits, the film states: “All of this picture was made near Amarillo and Canyon, Texas… and in the Palo Duro Canyon with the help of the State of Texas...”
- No studio interiors were used in the production of this film, and the rugged beauty of the Palo Duro Canyon takes center stage and in many of the film’s scenes becomes a character of its very own.
- During the midst of a range war in the Texas Panhandle, “Kid Wichita” (Robert Preston) returns to the Cloud ranch against the will of his brother (Robert Sterling), and aims to get revenge on the forces battling them in any way he can. In what seems to be a noble endeavor, he rides out into the vast canyon on horseback in pursuit of cattle rustlers, but ends up revealing a dark side of himself that causes more mayhem than it prevents.