Playing in the Panhandle trip report

[duggy]

Attendees:
@ENGINE er (Sam)
@winstonclein (Winston)
@duggy

These types of trips are usually reserved for times when we have more planning but the general feel of this trip was to go with the flow. I had been psyching myself out about this trip since the drive from Houston was 9 hours to our destination. I had to make sure the Cruiser was in tip top shape for the drive, but also make sure that I had all of my camping stuff that I needed. If you've ever camped with me before, I tend to bring pots pans and even the kitchen sink

Day 1
My girlfriend and I left on Thursday (Thanksgiving day) after having a quick lunch at her family's house. We told them we were driving 9 hours to Amarillo and they thought we were nuts. We probably were. We did not have a camp spot setup for the night so Sam and his wife found the camp spot at Lake Meridith in Fritch, Texas for the night. We arrived around 11:30PM and opened the RTT to sleep for the night.

We woke up to a beautiful sunrise, cooked some breakfast and discussed the weekend's plans.

Lake Meridith used to be an area where water sports were plenty, but since the drought hit north Texas pretty hard, the water levels have dropped 70 feet.

We agreed on the day to head north to the Canadian River to do some wheeling. This OHV area is public land which requires a Texas OHV sticker. The money from this sticker goes to keeping places like this open. Right off of highway 287 you can see people parked under the bridge and unloading their side by sides to have some fun in the dirt. The people in the Amarillo really care about the area. I was thoroughly surprised at how little trash there was in the area. It's truly a gem and an area you should visit if passing through Amarillo.

Pumping gas after leaving Lake Meridith

 

[duggy]

Day 2

The Canadian River flows from Colorado into New Mexico and the Texas Panhandle which allows OHV vehicles to drive in the water. We setup under the bridge, air down our tires and set off to explore some trails

We were told west of the bridge you can go 30 and east 15 miles along the Canadian river.

For a while, we were following some local kids who were driving like maniacs. It was pretty amusing to see these kiddos do burnouts in the dirt with their 2WD Dodge truck. Eventually they got stuck on a rock climb that they had no business being on anyways. Sam gave them a small yank and they were on their way, thankfully away from us this time.

We had lunch atop a hill climb and let the dogs run around for a bit. They definitely enjoyed each other's company during the whole trip: Belle (Chocolate Lab) and Red (Catahoula mix)

We descended ourselves into the river to have some more fun

When we finally exited we found some trouble.....
The sand out there is like what you'd find on a beach, but there are hidden gems of QUICKSAND around if you're lucky Winston tried to exit the river but unfortunately got stuck coming up the enbankment.

 

[duggy]

Day 2 Continued...

Efforts to try and pull Winston back were not possible because his recovery points were buried in the mud. At this point he is sitting on his sliders and is dead weight.

I come around and try to pull Winston forward but unfortunately found the only muddy patch of grass that was present on the whole open field of dry dirt.....call me lucky.

At this point, Sam is our last resort so we try to find the best method of having him climb the embankment onto the dry dirt. Unfortunately, we picked a bad spot for him to climb and he's teeter tottering on his sliders.

I cracked open a beer and had to let it all simmer in. Eventually I knew we were going to get out, but what efforts would we use? We had nothing to winch to, and the trucks were all at bad angles to winch to. We tried a multitude of things such as digging out the dirt under my tires and sticking the firewood I brought. It probably would have helped if we tried further. We had a Toyota Tundra come by to help, but he was way too light for our heavy rigs to either snatch strap or winch to. We tried to use a hi-lift on Sams truck to rock him back into the river. All of which didn't work.
We finally had a Dodge truck come by and hook up a strap to Sam's truck which pulled him out backwards. We all decided we had enough wheeling for the day and setup camp at an awesome remote spot where the dogs can play. There was plenty of camp fire chatter of the day's happenings that night. I even had smores for the first time.

 

[duggy]

Day 3

We drove southeast to Palo Duro Canyons State Park to see the canyons. This area is beautiful as most of the Panhandle is flat. You essentially drive up to Palo and see a huge hole in the ground. It's pretty breathtaking.
I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

All in all, I'd have to say this was an awesome trip with some awesome friends. This area is a great place to stop by if you are passing through Amarillo. It has plenty to offer and sites to see. Until next time!

 

[duggy]

How could I forget? We got blasted on the Canadian River offroad Facebook page. Read it for yourself.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1382479758677926/permalink/1514351812157386/

 

[winstonclein]

We were on prime time at the Canadian River Off Road FB page
Excellent trip report.

 

[ENGINE er]

awesome pics, ill try and get some of ours up when bea gets home.

 

[LCnRockwall]

Great pics. Thanks for sharing your adventure

 

[Muddy Bean]

Fun stuff! Lived vicariously through you hoping to head out there this winter when we are in Texas

 

[POTATO LAUNCHER]

It was cool to run into you guys at the Canyon. Ya'll get all the river mud off yet?

 

[winstonclein]

It was nice to meet there PL.
BTW, nice 40

 

[POTATO LAUNCHER]

Thanks Winston, if you do this trip again give me a heads up. I"ll manage some time off and join you guys.