Seminole Canyon State Park - Comstock, TX
Dates of stay: Jan. 2 - 7, 2022
Campground: Seminole Canyon State Park
Beautiful drive down into this part of Texas - it’s starting to get really remote, with lots of wide open spaces. This state park is really in the middle of nowhere, and snuggles up to the Rio Grande river, effectively allowing us to see into Mexico. This state park is known for its famous pictographs - rock art from over 4000 years ago that still remains on the canyon walls.
We did not have full hookups at this site (no sewer) and the bathrooms didn’t have any hot water for the entire week we were there, so it was a little “rougher” than normal but not bad at all as we still had water, and the hot water heater! The mornings were cold, and the days were sunny and warmer. We took to exploring the trails pretty quickly here, and discovered Canyon Rim Trail, a gravelly, rocky trail that snakes alongside the Seminole Canyon.
The Canyon Rim trail is about a 3.5 mile trek containing lots of undercut rock, fallen boulders, and large swatchs of creme, salmon and grey cliffs - it’s quite beautiful. Also, lots of ocotillo plats (NOT a cactus we learned), as well as prickly pear cactus along the trail. Didn’t see any wildlife out and about, but did witness a spectacular sunset from our campsite. Supposedly there are illegal border crossings in this area, with people coming up through the canyon. We were also told by our guide that the canyon area within the park is filled with sensors, to detect any activity. We weren’t really certain whether this is true or not, or if it’s a warning to keep people out of the canyon beyond visiting hours so as to deter any vandalism to the canyon walls/area (also a good idea). One day we did see the helicopters circling the canyon so maybe….we decided not to to find out.
One afternoon, Tom and I explored the surrounding area - Pecos River, Pecos River Bridge - beautiful canyon area. From this point, we were finally able to over and into the mountains of Mexico from the Amistad Recreation area. We met a couple with a truck camper and talked to them for a bit as we think that could be a good set up for us down the road (post Owen’s graduation….)
We toured Seminole Canyon within the park with a guide today and saw the many petroglyphs left over 4,000 years ago in this area. We also learned that this area is defined by 3 different biomes - the Acacias, desert, and Juniper and ash trees/bushes. The visitor center here is spectacular!
Struggled to do it, but I got my butt out of bed for a sunrise hike and took the Canyon Rim path to the lookout point. Glad I did, as it offered up one of the most peaceful and serene mornings I’ve had yet.
The trails here are also pretty good for biking, and we explored those on our last day here. We wanted to take the trail all the way to the Rio Grande, but we were running out of sunlight so we weren’t able to make it .