Caprock Canyonlands: Journeys Into the Heart of the Southern Plains

There was absolutely no precedent when this fine book was first published twenty years ago. For many people like myself who had been born and raised on the Southern High Plains, it gave meaning and context to a place that no one had ever bothered to point out, or tell us was worthy of respect. It gave well deserved, if belated, attention to a spectacular but neglected western landscape. It also spawned an unlikely bioregional movement rising out of an otherwise conservative, christian, closed-minded community. Flores was unapologetic about his love for the canyons of the High Plains, and for folks like me, it lent credibility to feelings I'd always had, but never had reason to articulate.

That's the driving spirit behind this wonderful book -- Texas' missing National Park. At one time, in the early 1930s, the National Park Service was looking at a national park at least 150,000 acres, and as much as 1 million acres, for Texas' Panhandle caprock. That's right, 1 million acres -- 1,600 square miles or so. What happened? Don't blame the Depression; the NPS bought land in Texas at the tail end of the Depression to create Big Bend. Lack of political will and a dime-store solution on the cheap are what happened. After helping the state of Texas create Palo Duro Canyon State Park -- around 15,000 acres, not 150,000, let alone 1 million -- the NPS simply didn't carry that through. So all we have today is Palo Duro and another dime-sized state park, Caprock Canyons (Copper Breaks is not a canyon, per se, and it's not in the Caprock). Flores, who once had a rough-it/hippie house in Yellow House Canyon, on one of the Caprock forks of the Brazos River, knows this land intimately and personally -- including the vast majority of the Caprock still in private hands. Read this intimate account of what many of you may be missing who haven't visited either of the two state parks in Texas' Panhandle, and for those of you who have been to Palo Duro but not explored the rest of the Caprock, see what could have been -- and what Flores dreams still could be.

it might not be fair to comment, but i haven't read this book. nevertheless i was flying to san francisco from miami the other day and as the pilot mentioned that we just passed over texico, nm i noticed one of the most arresting sights i have ever seen from a plane. seemingly endless plains, farmed into a quilted patchwork of green squares and circles, abruptly dissolved into a brownish red fractal universe. at 34.946 north 103.438 west is one of the most striking features. you can check it out online at the terraserver or on any map program. of course they could never do justice to what it really looks like. i've been obsessing over this area for a few days now, although i hope it'll pass before i crank out bucks for yet another book i don't really need.

I paid over-due fines on this book twice at the Austin library...I wouldn't return it until I was finished. It was worth it though. Flores writes in simple terms and speaks from the heart. This book educated me while causing me to reflect on my life...Imprinted DNA from old relatives...I've believed this for years.