FATE BELL SHELTER TOUR, SEMINOLE CANYON

NOTE: We are now at Big Bend. We have no cell phone service and spotty WIFI from the park store. Hope all is well in the outside world…lol

 

Wednesday, January 31 – After getting set up at Seminole Canyon Campground just outside Comstock, TX, we relaxed outside until about 3 p.m. It was then time to head to the Visitor's Center for the Fate Bell Shelter Pictograph guided tour. It is a ranger guided tour that departs twice daily, 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. The only way visitors are permitted to visit the floor of the canyon is by going on this tour. The cost is $5 per person, BUT the price increases to $8 per person on February 1, 2018. So by going today instead of tomorrow as we originally planned, we saved $6.

There were 12 people on the tour plus our ranger guide. We walked down about a mile's worth of switchback trail and steps to the canyon floor.

Tonya our ranger guide.

Lots of steps but not bad at all.

This area was used 4000 years ago by nomadic Indian tribes traveling and hunting in the area. The Fate Bell Shelter is thought to be one of the oldest cave dwellings in North America. There are four areas of pictograph figures that are simply amazing. Protecting these drawings is the reason for limiting visitors to guided tours. You do have to climb several sets of stairs and scramble over some rocky cliffs to see the pictographs up close.

The floor of the Canyon is beautiful.  Solid Texas limestone.

We had to climb more steps to get to the Fate Bell Annex. The first of the pictographs. Over 35 researchers have tried to find the meanings of these drawings. No one to this day knows exactly what they mean.

Once we entered Fate Bell Shelter, we noticed mats on the floor. The ranger explained that the rubber mats helped control dust which effects the breakdown of the pictographs.

Up more steps to the Shelter.

Mats for protection.

Looking out of the Shelter into the canyon.

Of course, the return up the 200 foot cliff to the Visitor's Center involves climbing many stairs and uphill switchbacks, but everyone in our group completed the hike without any problems.

Be aware that almost everything in this environment bites, stings, or scratches. All the bushes have thorns. On our hike, we hurried past several very active bee colonies. Fortunately, we didn't see anything that bites, but were warned the javelinas in the area are pretty aggressive.

Active bee’s hive.

We had a beautiful sunset tonight. The night sky was DARK! This area is known for it's dark night skies.

We had a great time on the very informative Fate Bell Shelter tour. We highly recommend it to any visitor. We have several days of hiking planned during our five days at Seminole Canyon, so y’all come back and see what interesting things we find in the area.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day.

SEMINOLE CANYON STATE PARK…PEACE AND QUIET

Note: We have been without cell phone service and Internet for 4 days. We drove 40 miles to Del Rio to make some phone calls. We will be without WIFI and cell phone service for several more days. We will try to catch up with everyone’s blog posts and emails soon.

Wednesday, January 31 – Before we departed this morning from the Kickapoo Casino campground in Eagle Pass, Texas, Marsha was excited to view the Super Blue Blood Moon eclipse. Being in the Central Time Zone, our best viewing time was between 6:00 and 6:30 a.m. We had clear skies and were treated with a great view of the moon out of the rear window of our 5^th wheel trailer.

We started our day's travel by moving to the west side of Eagle Pass to get the mandatory annual inspection for the RV. It is somewhat difficult to find an inspection station that does the RV inspection. For $7.00, all they really did was check that all the lights work, and that the brakes function correctly. Oh well, that's taken care of for another year.

We continued our travel along the Tex-Mex border today traveling from Eagle Pass, TX, to Seminole Canyon State Park, just west of Comstock, TX. The drive to Seminole Canyon was a little over 100 miles. It was a relaxing and uneventful drive on US-90, a great road we've used in the past when crossing Texas. It is a parallel route to I-10, actually being a bit shorter with a 75 mph speed limit, although we travel at 62 mph, and a much nicer way to travel across the “Big” state.

 
We decided to purchase the Texas State Pass when checking in at Seminole Canyon SP. It costs $70, but we received four half-off camping coupons and free admission to all Texas State Parks. We figured our stops in the coming weeks will have us breaking even by mid-February. The pass is good for a year. Be aware that Texas is one of the states that charge you $3/person entry per day in the state parks, even when you've paid for a camp site. Just in this park, we would have had to pay $6/day for five days.

After getting set up in Site #26, a blacktop site with water, 30 AMP electric, picnic table, shelter and fire ring, we took Bella, our cat, for a short walk around her “new digs.” People sure get a kick out of seeing a cat on a leash...Haha. We did find out that WI-FI is available at the nearby restrooms but it only works for texting, no Internet and absolutely no cell phone service. This park is just about full, but we don’t even notice it. It is so peaceful. We enjoyed our first day at Seminole.

Site #26 is very large.

Looking right.

Looking left.

Wide open space.

Paul just relaxing.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day.

 

TRAVELING ALONG THE TEX-MEX BOARDER

Monday, January 29 – We pulled out of Mission, TX, early this morning and followed the USA-Mexico border on US-83. This is a nice route through Texas oil field country. Most of the traffic we saw was service vehicles for the oil drilling industry. Thank goodness for oil because there isn't much else here for people to earn a living! It was a pretty interesting drive. (You can click on any photo to enlarge it.)

One inspection center to go through.

Scenery….what scenery?

We arrived at the Kickapoo Casino in Eagle Pass, Texas, by early afternoon. This is our second time at this Indian casino (We were here in 2012.), and boy has it changed. What was once a small casino on a dusty road is now a large casino with a 200+ room hotel and a full hookup RV park. Nice to see they are spending all those tourist dollars on roads, sidewalks, and other capital improvements.

Last time, we parked in a small area at the back of a parking lot. We did have water and electric but little else. The casino has now built a nice full hookup campground with 20 sites, paved roads and sites, concrete patios, and nice grassy landscape areas. The rate is $15/night which we paid, via credit card, at a self-serve meter similar to the type used in many large cities for street parking. As a side note, if staying here be sure to use a water pressure regulator. Paul found the pressure in excess of 100 pounds.

2012 campground.  That’s are previous RV, a Tiffin Phaeton.

2018 campground

Looking right.  There’s the automated pay station.


Looking left.

2012 Casino

2018 Kickapoo Casino…all three buildings.  Plans for adding more hotel rooms!

The landscaping is beautiful.

“Humorous” side note. While walking around our RV admiring the campground, we mentioned to each other that there was an occasional sewer smell. Little did we know we parked in site #1, right next door to the sewer treatment plant. Ha ha! Good planning!

After dinner, we decided to head over to the casino and win enough money to pay for our two nights stay. There is a very nice shuttle that we had pick us up at our door which came in handy since it cooled down significantly after sunset. Unfortunately, the slot machine devil was out and thanked us for the contribution to the casino capital improvement fund rather than allowing us to leave with big winnings.

Tuesday, January 30 - Today, we explored Eagle Pass, Texas. Our first stop was Walmart to pick-up a few supplies. What a wonderful surprise we had when we checked out at the register. NO BAGS! As of June 2017, single use bags have been banned in Eagle Pass, Texas. Only bags with handles and made of cloth, washable fabric, durable plastic or recyclable paper may be used. If you forget your reusable bag, they will sell you a recyclable paper bag with handles for 25 cents. The gal at the checkout said they can already see a difference in the amount or lack of litter in town.  We feel there are numerous South Texas cities that should consider this law.

We then drove around the city of Eagle Pass. The city borders the city of Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico, which is to the southwest and across the Rio Grande River. Eagle Pass was the first American settlement on the Rio Grande. Originally known as Camp Eagle Pass, it served as a temporary outpost for the Texas militia, which had been ordered to stop illegal trade with Mexico during the Mexican-American War. Eagle Pass is so named because the contour of the hills through which the Rio Grande flows bore a fancied resemblance to the outstretched wings of an eagle.

The population of the city is just under 30,000 people with a median age of 31.7 years and a median household income of $36,907. The population is 94.4 % Hispanic, 4.2 % White and 1% Asian. 90% of the population speak a non-English language, and 80.3% of the people are U.S. Citizens. 26.2% of the population in Eagle Pass live below the poverty line compared to the national average of 14.7%.

There is a very “different” RV that pulled in last night. We got a better look at it today. What do you think…a bit different?

We enjoyed our little tour of the city and then returned to the Kickapoo Casino campground to relax for the remainder of the day. Tomorrow we head to Seminole Canyon State Park in Comstock, Texas. This stop was highly recommended to us by friends and blog readers, so stop back and see what we discover.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!