Seminole Canyon State Park, Texas

March 21, 2023

Our drive to Seminole Canyon State Park was a pleasant one, and the scenery through the Texas Hill Country and beyond was quite nice. We passed through rural areas of interesting ranches with all kinds of livestock--sheep, venison, goats, cattle, and some animals that were hard to identify at 60 mph.

Texas hill country Wikipedia link

A gentle rollercoaster of hills through the Hill Country

The Amistad Reservoir, managed jointly by the U.S. and Mexico

We had a minor catastrophe that happened sometime after stopping for lunch. *Someone* forgot to latch the refrigerator door, and Salt Lake City paid the price when the freezer bin went tumbling onto our kitchen island. 

Pretty much all of Salt Lake City was wiped out in the attack.

Nearing our destination

Our site was a large pull-through at the end of the loop of "primitive" campsites (which just means there are no water or electric hookups).   

It felt like we had the whole park to ourselves at the end of the loop.

Seminole Canyon State Park is just across the Rio Grande from Mexico, and we were anxious to get out and explore. However, the cold weather had followed us here, and we were treated to constant 20-30+ mph winds on top of that. We did brave the cold and wind the following day when we ventured out for a walk around the campground (a trek of about 1.25 miles).

This might be our first walk of the year with an actual measurable elevation change!

We decided to spend the rest of the day inside. Our catalytic propane heaters kept us plenty warm that day and into the next.  

Much better view this time!

The next day promised to be better, and after waking up to virtual silence (after hours of howling wind), we were encouraged. The morning was foggy and cool, but by afternoon, the sun began to break out and the temperatures rose to the mid 70s. Perfect!

Ahhhh - warm sunshine!

Todays exercise was an 8.6 mile ride/hike endeavor to go see Mexico and the Rio Grande as well as the adjoining Seminole Canyon.

We rode our bikes out towards the Rio Grande on a relatively mild road/trail. Just when we were almost in sight of water, the trail became more hard-core, so we decided to backtrack a bit and find a different route.  

Didn't see any.

Our first glimpse of the banks of the Rio Grande (the green swath)

We locked the bikes at a shelter and set off on foot to explore Seminole Canyon and its confluence with the Rio Grande.

Seminole Canyon

The ocotillo were in bloom.

At the junction of Seminole Canyon and the Rio Grande

Looking toward the Rio Grande

That's Mexico on the left. Rick commented that it didn't look much different over there 😉.

Checking out a purplish clump of cacti over the edge.

A fossil?

The only real wildlife we noticed on the trail was this very well-armored millipede which was pretty big (by our standards). Rick poked it with a stick and found the armor to be very durable. (No millipedes were harmed in this photo-shoot.)

So many legs all moving together!

We got back on our bikes and rode to another section of Seminole Canyon closer to the campground.

No water in this part of the canyon today.

Julie resting on a rock that didn't look real well attached to the canyon wall (unbeknownst to her).

After returning to the camper, we were finally able to sit out on the deck for a while, enjoying the nice weather and beautiful sunset later that evening.

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