Lubbock's Canyon Lakes Follow the Draws Across a Flat City

From a highway, Lubbock can look table-flat. The city's green spine tells a different story. It follows the draws, the shallow cuts through the Llano Estacado. The Canyon Lakes system links parks, open space, and small lakes along Yellowhouse and Blackwater Draws.

The city parks master plan treats the system as a way to show the Llano Estacado landscape. It also points to more than 13,000 years of human settlement and use in this area.

That helps explain outdoor life here. Lubbock does not have a downtown riverfront. It has draws, lakes, and linked parks, so the flat-looking city has more terrain than it first lets on.