Seminole Canyon State Park, Texas
I’m writing this the morning we’re leaving Seminole Canyon State Park, headed for a private RV park in Van Horn, Texas. It will be our fourth and final stop (for this trip) as we cross the Lone Star State.
Seminole Canyon has been a really great stop. It’s the first stop in our trip west that really feels like we’re in a new place. The park is located on the east bank of the Pecos River where it flows into the Rio Grande. It’s not actually part of the Chihuahuan Desert, but its clime and landscape are quite similar, just a little greener and rockier than the desert. I’m pretty sure it’s a semi-arid scrubland, but even knowing that it’s hard not to call this place a desert. It’s hot in the sun, cool in the shade, and cold at night: very desert-like.
The park is known for rock paintings left by the original inhabitants of the canyon, some dating as far back as 8000 years ago. Seeing them in person requires a guided tour down into the canyon to Fate Bell Cave. I chose not to go on the tour, a little concerned about how rugged the descent/ ascent would be. As I write this, I wish I had gone on the tour, but I hope to have a chance next year, as we’re revisiting Texas next spring for the total solar eclipse.
While I loved the desert-ish landscape, the real “star” of this place was the night sky (sorry). The park is about 40 miles west of Del Rio and Ciudad Acuña, with nothing to our west for at least 60 miles. This place is so remote that as we left the settlement of Comstock, about ten mile east of here, we passed by a sign declaring “No Services for 88 Miles.”
All of this is to say the view of the night sky facing west was amazing. The first three nights we were here were cloudless, so nothing got in the way of the spectacle. I’m an early to bed-early to rise kind of guy, but those nights I stayed up well past my bedtime to see the celestial display. We can’t count how many satellites we saw, and LeeAnn saw a shooting star. It wasn’t real pronounced, but we could even see the clouds of the Milky Way.
Back on Earth, we saw a roadrunner. I don’t have any photos, though. I wasn’t near a camera when we saw it. Knowing I wouldn’t get a good shot if I went and got my closest camera, I decided to just enjoy the sight of the bird. Other wildlife we saw included a horned toad sunning itself on a road way and several cotton-tail rabbits. And, LeeAnn told me to include how happy she is that we didn’t see any snakes. We won’t discuss how many we passed by that chose to remain hidden.
