Seminole Canyon/Amistad, TX
October 26-27th, 1998
| After leaving San Antonio, I drove west on US 90 towards Amistad
National Recreation area in hopes of finding a campsite. I passed through the last
large town I will hit for a while, Del Rio and stopped in at the Amistad headquarters to
check out campsite information. I discovered that Amistad is mainly for boaters.
Amistad means friendship and was a project put together by Mexico and US.
They simply dammed up the Rio Grand to create the reservoir that makes up the boating
area. There are numerous boat entry ramps in both Mexico and the US. They
did, however, have some camping and I found a couple of spots further west on US 90 that
seemed to be nice. After finding a spot I thought would work, I headed back into Del
Rio for dinner supplies. After arriving at my campsite and making dinner, I tried to
sleep. But I was greeted with a case of the schpilkies (sp?)... I couldn't
sleep. I started to get some wierd feelings about the place and around 2 am, I
decided to head out on the road. I ended up a couple of miles up the road in
Comstock where I found a bunch of truckers pulled over next to a border patrol station and
decided to join them. I managed to get a couple of hours of shuteye, while leaving
my engine running. (This, I'm guessing, caused my battery isolator meltdown;
see next update). Before sunrise when I headed out to Seminole Canyon. I arrived at Seminole Canyon State Park at 7am, 1 ½ hours before they opened and decided to catch up with some stuff on my computer. After they opened, I checked out their exhibit and discovered that they only have tours of the famous rock art (petroglyphs) Wednesday through Sunday... my luck! So I snapped a photo of the beautiful sculpture they had... it was a 3-D representation one of the 2-D petroglyphs in the rock. I then decided to do a quick mountain bike ride. I'm glad a did because the ride afforded me some incredible views of the canyon. I rode the entire backcountry trail system of Seminole Canyon, which isn't saying too much. I totalled maybe 10 very flat miles. I also made a quick stop in Langtry, Texas on the recommendation of Cliff's mother. Interesting place! This is where Judge Roy Bean dispensed justice (with a heavy hand!) West of the Pecos River. The building you see in the picture is the exact same building where he had his saloon, billiard hall, and courtroom. Hmmm... I see... saloon... law/courtroom... heh... Only in Texas I guess... They had a very nice Texas State vistors center with lots of info on Texas. Not only that, but they had an awesome cactus garden with each plant labeled. On the label, they even mentioned how the plant was used by natives. I wish I could have spent more time studying the cactuses, but I had to move on... On to The Big Bend... hopefully before closing time! |
Once again, if you know of anyone in Southwestern Texas (or around Carlsbad New Mexico) who might let me use their telephone landline for updating my web pages, please let me know. There ain't no cell sites around here!
Coming Next...
In Texas... Big Bend, Guadelupe Mountains, and in New Mexico... Carlsbad Caverns.
More Information on Amistad National Recreation Area
Amistad means friendship. The Amistad National Recreation Area is a joint effort between the US and Mexico to create a park for watersports and for protection of prehistoric American Indian Art (I think a boat is necessary to visit the sites). There are also a couple of nature trails. When I was there, the camping was $4 a night, chemical toilets, no other facilities. There weren't really any tent pads even. Del Rio is anywhere from 10-40 minutes away depending on where you are in the park. For more information:
Amistad National Recreation Area
HCR-3, Box 5J
Del Rio, TX 78840-9350
(210)775-7491
http://www.nps.gov/amis/
More Information on Seminole Canyon State Historical Park
Seminole Canyon State Historical Park conducts tours of it's rock art every Wednesday - Sunday at 10am and 3pm. Camping is available. 8 miles of hiking/cycling is also available in the backcountry. The trails include some great views of the Pecos River Canyon and the Rio Grande. For more information:
Seminole Canyon State Historical Park
P.O. Box 820
Comstock, TX 78837
(915)292-4464
My E-Mail address is: andrew(at)koransky.com
Copyright (C) 1996-2008 Andrew Koransky
