EXPORING MORE OF SEMINOLE CANYON STATE PARK

Friday, February 2 – We've experienced great weather here at Seminole Canyon State Park on the Mexico border in Southern Texas. Day highs have been in the upper 70's with nightly lows in the 40's. Great weather for the many outdoor activities available here in the park. We certainly hope this weather continues for our visit to Big Bend National Park.

We started the day’s adventure at the Visitor Center to see the introductory movie which we missed on our first day here. It is a nice overview of the history behind Seminole Canyon and the native Americans that inhabited this area 4,000-12,000 years ago. Seminole Canyon received its name in honor of the U.S. Army’s Seminole-Negro Indian Scouts, garrisoned at Fort Clark. The scouts protected the West Texas frontier from marauding Apache and Comanche bands between 1872-1941. No scout was ever wounded or killed in combat.

We then walked through the small but very well done museum included as part of the Visitor Center. It included artifacts and displays of not only the first people that passed through this area in search of food but a very well-done history of the significant impact the railroad had in the late 19^th century. We certainly recommended this museum to all passing through the area.

Two items in upper-left corner are shoes, other items are pieces of mats.

A scene from the rock shelter.

An excellent job explaining how the railroad was built through this area.

We then exited the Visitor Center through the rear door and took the Fate Bell Shelter Trail for 1/3 or a mile to the Windmill Nature Trail. This is a short trail of about a mile that skirts along the rim of the canyon to an old windmill used to pump water during the time the railroad was being built. Many of the plants along the trail are identified by small signs at their base. We really enjoyed reading and identifying the many plants growing in this dry rocky environment.

 A bit of a rocky trail.

Pretty scenery.

What is left of the windmill.

Narrow leaf Yucca.

Agave.

Sotol.

Cenizo.

Huisache tree (We Sach tree)

We had a nice surprise while on the trail. As we approached a group of trees, two very large deer ran out and up the rocky hill across from us. Marsha quickly turned the camera on and was able to get a snapshot of one of the beauties.

Earlier in the day, we actually looked out our back window and saw several deer playing about 500 feet from our backyard.

We returned to the Visitor Center via a short walk on the park road from the end of the Windmill Trail. We jumped in the truck and headed a couple miles west to the Pecos River High Bridge viewing area. This is really something to see! The river gorge was a huge barrier to anyone or anything wishing to continue moving West. Not only is it a pretty significant sized river, but it is nearly impossible to reach the river's edge because of the deep canyon it is in. The Pecos River is considered the beginning of the famous “Wild West.” Of course, this was a tremendous roadblock to the railroad as it was heading West. If traveling along US-90, be sure to pull over to the Pecos Viewing area to see this amazing river gorge.

Can you see how the river has gone dry?

We have another adventure planned for tomorrow, so stop back and and see what we get into.

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

WE HIT THE TRAILS TODAY

Thursday, February 1 –  This morning here at Seminole Canyon, we had a gorgeous sunrise with a special appearance of the moon.

Today's plan calls for a hike on one of the several trails in Seminole Canyon State Park, Texas. There are seven trials in the park. We did the guided Fate Bell Shelter Pictograph trail yesterday. Our plan today is to do parts of several trails combined into a circular route.

We began on the Rio Grande Trail for .45 of a mile and connected to the popular Canyon Rim Trail.

Rio Grande Trail. Sign in the back says…Beware of snakes…yikes!

Pretty easy going so far.

This Canyon Rim Trail traverses the rim of Seminole Canyon and the Rio Grande corridor. It is labeled as Challenging. It really isn’t. The surface is rugged which makes hiking a little troublesome. The trail gave us many opportunities to view the canyon floor more than 200 feet below. Don't get mesmerized by the scenery or clumsy on the loose stones or you may end up at the bottom of the canyon!

Many times we were hiking right along the edge of the Canyon.

Bridge to the Past.

Had to watch our step.

We branched off temporarily on the Presa Overlook Trial which ends at a beautiful overlook into Presa and Seminole Canyon. We stopped nearby for a short break and to reenergize ourselves with a little snack from our backpacks.

We continued down the Canyon Rim Trail for a short distance before connecting to the Presa Trail which cuts away from the canyon onto higher ground. We followed this old ranch road about a mile before connection to Middle Fork Trail.  

Presa Trail. Not nearly as rugged as Canyon Rim. Difficulty: Moderate. We say easy.

Middle Fork Trail. Listed as moderate. Again, we say easy.

The last part of the trail was reconnecting to the Rio Grande Trail which we followed back to the trailhead. We covered about five miles which was enough since it's been awhile since we hiked that far. We'll tackle another trail in the next couple days, so come back and follow along.

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

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.