About MERUS Adventure Park

From a 2012 idea to a growing canyon park

In 2012, Dirk van Reenen imagined building an outdoor adventure park in Palo Duro Canyon. The idea waited until 2021, when Dirk, Kristin, Jaxson, and Kate left Houston, purchased a ranch in the canyon country near Claude, and began the practical work of turning that vision into MERUS Adventure Park.

The family was building in a landscape with a story far older than the park. Texas Parks and Wildlife says people have lived in Palo Duro Canyon for about 12,000 years; Apache, Comanche, and Kiowa peoples later used its resources, and ranching became part of the region’s history in the late 1800s. That history belongs to the broader canyon and should be encountered with care and respect.

The canyon’s exposed walls tell an even longer story. Texas Parks and Wildlife says water began carving Palo Duro roughly one million years ago, revealing rock layers that record about 250 million years of geologic history. Across the canyon, harder rock can cap softer layers to create hoodoos as the landscape erodes at different rates. The changing layers, colors, slopes, and erosion-shaped formations provide the regional setting for a visit to MERUS.

Since the 2021 purchase, the park has grown steadily through trail work, places to stay, skills training, guided experiences, events, and the contributions of team members, guests, members, volunteers, guides, and partners. Development continues in stages, guided by MERUS’s mission to “Nourish the Adventurous Spirit” and by the responsibility to prepare visitors and care for the canyon landscape.