First, a little bit about the park: Seminole Canyon State Park was established in 1980 as an archeological and historic preserve, and it contains a great deal of rock art. The 2,100-acre park has 72 recorded sites spanning a range of about 9,000 years, with most of the Fate Bell pictographs being made about 4,000 years ago.
On this Seminole Canyon trip, we had 11 TOWN members from the San Marcos and Austin chapters, plus 3 husbands/boyfriends, and 1 daughter – making up a great group for this outing! Three of these members were also new, so it was good getting to know one another! And to get acquainted, we of course shared a wonderful potluck meal with so much food that we had to do it again the next night!
Many of us went on guided hikes with tours of some of the most famous pictograph sites in the area, such as Fate Bell Shelter, White Shaman, and Upper Seminole Canyon. Some hiked an additional 6 miles to see the Panther Cave pictograph in a distant shelter above the Pecos and the Rio Grande. We also drove to Langtry to see the Judge Roy Bean museum and walked through the cactus gardens where 2 Hooded Orioles were spotted. On the way back, we stopped at the Pecos River High Bridge overlook, just above where the Pecos runs into the Rio Grande, with a view down the river canyon of tall Limestone bluffs and vistas into Mexico.
Traveling to Seminole Canyon State Park, Hwy. 90 has a lot of interesting layers of geology in the many road cuts between Amistad and the Pecos River. The desert and river canyon scenery is beautiful. And there are many more archeological sites to tour in the area. We’ve captured memories with photos and even watercolors, but I know I’d like to come back and see more!
Thank you all for making this such a great trip!
CarrieL
