|
|
Can you keep a secret?
If you'll come along with me, we can keep this paradise to ourselves. No, it's not a well known place among the 'Jet-Set' group with all their fast paced destinations.
And, you won't find a ski slope or the sandy beaches of an 'Ocean Get-Away' in Palo Pinto County. What you WILL find is a beautiful wooded and mountainous region, a sportman's paradise, and a vacation to remember.
Find your way on the map below and then read some of the highlights about Palo Pinto. There's something for everyone, and Palo Pinto is where you will always remember that a good time was had.
|
Hwy 281 is the SnowBird  corridor through Texas where there's a warm playground for many who want to escape the harsh winter conditions.
|
Hwy 281 is
 the preferred route over Interstate 35. I35 has been assigned the NAFTA corridor, which is heavily laden with trucks and large transport vehicles. The traffic on I35 has forced many of us to use Hwy 281, and the switch was worth it.
The scenery along Hwy 281 displays an array of natures beauty deep in the heart of Texas. The highway winds through small towns and sleepy villages that were lost in time from many years long ago. But, this was by their own design. They left behind the 'Jet Set' lifestyle of the big cities in Texas like Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, and San Antonio.
|
|
|
Follow the yellow line on the map (right) where Hwy 281 cuts along the Eastern portion of the County in a 2 lane highway
|
|
Hwy 281 extends North and South through mountains, rolling hills, and scenic valleys.
|
|
|
Palo Pinto is
the old communities, like Palo Pinto, Gordon,
Mineral Wells, Santo, Brazos, and many others that have retained that 'down home' lifestyle. Which to most country folks, isn't a style at all.
|
|
|
Palo Pinto is
home of one of the oldest Jail Houses in use. However, the old Jail House is only used as a Museum of History and not for it's original purpose. It's open to the public in the city of Palo Pinto during the summer months.
|
|
|
Palo Pinto is
the rugged beauty of a high desert aired climate
|
|
Palo Pinto is
the kind of good feeling that you can't describe. But you know whatever that feeling is, it was somehow lost in the big cities.
|
|
|
Palo Pinto
puts you close to nature with the relaxing contentment that only nature provides.
|
|
|
Palo Pinto is traveling the many scenic back roads and the majestic beauty of mountain trails
|
|
|
Palo Pinto is
the simple pleasures in life you had forgotten, especially when you share them with someone you love.
|
|
|
Palo Pinto is
a peaceful walk along the shores of Buck Creek.
|
|
|
Palo Pinto is
the personal warmth of small-town folks when they ask you; "How are you doing?" and they really want to know.
|
|
|
The old communities of Palo Pinto welcome everyone with the
same warm handshake and smile, no matter where you're from. They've never met a stranger, and they value the relationship of a passing acquaintance, or a long lost
friend. These old communities of Palo Pinto are on the back roads of the
USA where they keep the true red white and blue
Americana that you've always wanted to see.
|
|
|
Palo Pinto is
named for the spotted trees that grow wild in the area. The name was bestowed upon the region in the 1500's by Spainards during the Coronado expedition.
|
|
|
Palo Pinto is
shopping for crafts on a cool October day at the Crazy Water Festival
|
|
|
Palo Pinto is
breathtaking views of rugged mountains and scenic prairies
|
|
 Palo Pinto is
the rich history of the 1930's Holywood Scene when the Baker Hotel hosted some of Holywood's greatest such as Clark Gable, Judy Garland, Carole Lumbard, Audie Murphy, The Three Stooges, Will Rogers, Herbert Hoover, Ronald Regan, Bonnie and Clyde, and many others.
|
|
|
Palo Pinto is family fun and recreation in numerious lake shores
|
|
|
Palo Pinto is
wrangling in a five pound bass on Possum Kingdom Lake
|
|
|
Palo Pinto is
the site where one of the largest Comanche encampments was built where Eagle Creek feeds into the Brazos River
|
|
|
Palo Pinto is
the ledgend of Hells Gate and the trapper's demize at the hands of hostile Comanche Indians. Now a historic site and recreational area known as Possum Kingdom Lake
|
|
Palo Pinto is
where legends like Oliver Loving and Charles Goodnight carved the Goodnight Loving Trail from Palo Pinto to New Mexico Territory in the 1850s. The cattle trail opened the West to a new trade route through 
hostile Indian territory and made Palo Pinto THE CRADLE OF THE CATTLE INDUSTRY. Goodnight made his ledgendary death march from New Mexico Territory through Palo Pinto to bury his beloved friend, Oliver Loving.
|
|
|
Palo Pinto is Old Style"
hunting wildlife on a cool crisp morning in the Palo Pinto Mountains
|
|
Palo Pinto is
the Outlaws hideout in old Robbers Roost. A winding maze of rock cliffs and pinnacles that stretch for miles across rugged terrain in the Eastern portion of Palo Pinto. Notorious Outlaws such as John Dove, Sam Bass, and John Wesley Hardin among many others used the hideout. Rock climbers find this place a haven as well as campers, and RV enthusiasts at what is now, Mineral Wells State Park
|
|
|
Palo Pinto is
where the West was born. Who cares where it begins. Come to Palo Pinto and enjoy a true WESTERN EXPERIENCE
|
|
|
|
Follow The SnowBirds To
Palo Pinto County, Texas |
|
|
|
|
Scenic Highway 4 in Palo Pinto. Only a few miles North of Santo, Texas, the road winds along Palo Pinto Creek in a spectacular view of nature
|
|
|
The Baker Hotel - Mineral Wells, Texas - See where the legends of the 1930's Hollywood stars made their home and registed under an alias to ensure that they remainded incognito.
|
|
|
Scenic Highway 4 in Palo Pinto. Said to be one of the most beautiful drives in the continental United States.
|
|
|
4th of July fireworks at Hell's Gate. Boats by the hundreds gather on Possum Kingdom Lake and await the fireworks display - a spectacular show and MUST SEE event
|
|
|
In the 1850's, Longhorn Cattle was made famous in Palo Pinto by Oliver Loving and Charles Goodnight. And ever since, Palo Pinto has been known as the CRADLE OF THE CATTLE INDUSTRY
|
|
|
Robber's Roost in Palo Pinto Texas - camp in the same hideout Sam Bass used in the 1870's at Mineral Wells State Park.
|
|
Sometimes, folks stay and never return from whence they came. It can't be explained, but you feel like you're at home... Palo Pinto feels that way to all of us... The people and places seem to grow on you with an irresistible urge to plant roots and prop your feet up for a long time... Maybe for good!
Why visit Palo Pinto? More reasons than I can say!
Randall Scott Erwin
Ghostryder Publishing
2528 Live Oak Road
Santo, Texas 76472
Ghostryders.com
|
|
|
|
