From Desert to Hill Country!

April 3 – 10, 2022 

Home Sweet Home!

State Parks have always been a favorite of ours to camp in, and Seminole Canyon State Park was no exception!  This campsite proved to be a first for us in many ways and a last in other ways!  This was our first time to camp in a Texas state park and I’m certainly hoping it will not be our last!  This was not our first campground with pictographs; however, it was the first one to offer guided hikes to them.  Our guide, Miss Betty, began our tour with an explanation of how Seminole Indians settled here and their historic, heroic role in settling Texas.  These descendants of Florida Seminoles were forced to relocate to Oklahoma, where they were not welcomed by tribes on the reservation.  Subsequently, they moved to what is now called Seminole Canyon.  

We learned thousands of years before the Seminoles were here, the Pecos Indians called this area home.  It’s such a harsh environment, it’s amazing they were able to survive here!  Within the boundaries of the state park, you find Fate Bell Shelter, in which a group of 15-30 Pecos Indians lived.  Evidence of this includes the pictographs they painted, the mats they wove from sotol cactus, and the oil residue left on the grinding stone from their hands working hard to feed themselves.  The shelter itself was carved into the canyon wall by the Rio Grande River’s rushing waters!  The day we visited the shelter, it was swelteringly hot as well as unbelievably windy.  The instant we stepped inside the shelter, we were welcomed by protection from both sun and wind.  In addition, we had a view of the river and surrounding desert, which was breathtaking!  

In 1937, Forrest Kirkland and his wife had the foresight and ambition to document the pictographs of this region.  They carefully measured and redrew the Pecos-style pictographs in their original colors and published their work.  Comparing the pictographs today (nearly 90 years later) to their drawings made me so very thankful for their work.  Although the art is still amazing, the fading of these 4,000-year-old drawings was very noticeable.  I can only imagine how stunning this art was originally!

The view from Fate Bell Shelter

The Pecos made white, red, yellow and black paint by combining minerals and plant oils.  Pretty good paint to have withstood 4,000 years, even if it has faded!  Although it is pure conjecture, many experts have studied pictographs and there are theories as to what the images represent.  The Pecos art style is very unique in that it combines both human and animal in a single form called anthropomorphism.  It was interesting to listen to Miss Betty’s sharing of what the experts’ best guess is as to what story the art is communicating!

Fate Bell Shelter

Along the trail to Fate Bell is a sculpture created by Bill Worrell, called “Maker of Peace”.  This sculpture attempts to include a lot of the same anthropomorphic elements as Pecos-style pictographs.

Maker of Peace Sculpture.

Three miles from the campground is the Rio Grande River and, as you might imagine, there is a trail to get there. Along this six-mile, out and back, desert trail, northern mocking birds, prickly pear and Christmas cactus kept us company!  This was our last hike in the Chihuahuan Desert, so we soaked up the landscape all we could!  

"Christmas Cactus"

One option the trail offers is to follow the back waters of the Rio Grande River along Seminole Canyon until its confluence with the main channel.  Shortly before the confluence was our highlight – Panther Cave!  Located on the opposite bank of Seminole Canyon was another site where Pecos pictographs were found.  While it took some help from our zoom lens, we eventually were able to find the nine-foot-long panther drawn so long ago!  The rest of the extensive pictograph panel was obscured by foliage from our vantage-point, but would be amazing to see if you could take a boat ride to the entrance point.  Experts believe this was a shelter shamans would come to in order to visit the netherworld and seek guidance.  

The nine-foot-long panther is visible along with some of the other paintings in the pictograph panel.

Panther Cave is located on the opposite bank of the Rio Grande.

The Rio (not so) Grande with Ocotello in the foreground.

This park is another popular location for birders to visit and, therefore, offers an interpretive bird trail.  Along the trail to the bird viewing spot, various desert vegetation is identified.  This was a short walk; however, such a relaxing and peaceful setting.  It was fun finding a prickly pear blooming at the trail’s entrance – an invitation to hike the trail we couldn’t resist!  Although our only bird sightings were the Northern mocking bird and the Vermillion Flycatcher, it was a delightful stroll!

Although today this land is Seminole Canyon State Park, in 1883 the country’s second trans-continental railroad went through here.  Evidence of the railroad’s existence is here in the form of the raised railroad bed as well as the graffiti railroad workers left in the Fate Bell Shelter.  Painted in large, black paint are the names of two of the men who spent their days laying the tracks.  I guess their “artwork” is now historical as well.  Today, the shelter is protected from any further graffiti, as access to the shelter is only allowed on guided hikes.  Video surveillance alerts both border patrol and local authorities if anyone is in the area who should not be there.  Rather a sad commentary, but apparently a necessary one. Big Bend National Park experienced graffiti to their pictographs only a few months ago.  I’ve heard “You can’t fix stupid.” And apparently, that is apropos. 

Yep, Barb's tooting her own horn!

Our next stop in Texas took us out of the desert and into “Hill Country”!  During this short stop, we stayed at Medina Lake RV Park.  After 90 days in the desert, we were thrilled to drive winding, rolling roads.  As shocking as hills were, having the road lined with green grass and trees took us over the top!  The deer population is a clear result of the bounty of food and water in the area as well.  Deer were everywhere!

Our big adventure in Texas’ Hill Country was a trip to Fredericksburg.  (Thanks for the suggestion, Jerri!)  This is a charming, German community that was founded in 1846.  Main Street is unusually wide!  It turns out that was by design.  When the town was designed, they wanted the street to be wide enough for an ox cart to be able to turn around in!

We found it curious this historic, German community, located in west-central Texas, houses a WWII Naval Museum.  It was when we walked past Chester Nimitz’s birthplace home, that the light bulb went on for us!  Across the street from the admiral’s birth home is the hotel his grandparents owned and what is now the museum.  It was too lovely of a day to spend time indoors, so we took a pass on touring the museum for this trip.

Admiral Nimitz - Bigger than life!

With that being said, somehow, I didn’t pass going to a quilt shop!  One Quilt Place is a delightful shop that is also a retreat destination for many quilters!  Not surprisingly, a delightful jelly roll of Texas themed fabrics found its way to our camper.  Time will tell what project this becomes part of!  

Cross Mountain is on the outskirts of town and we had just enough time to climb this hill before heading to Mass.  The top of this hill offered a beautiful view of the area.  A bit of a mystery is the cross that is located at the top of the hill.  The founders of the town discovered a cross here of unknown origin.  It is speculated to have possibly been placed there by missionaries.  Regardless, a cross has been maintained there ever since.

We wrapped up our visit to Fredericksburg with Mass at St. Mary’s Church, The cornerstone of this church was dedicated in 1861 and built in the shape of a cross.  Its five doors commemorate the five wounds of Christ and its 12 windows honor the twelve apostles.  The homily was based on The Passion and was focused from Simon of Cyrene’s viewpoint.  It was an interesting perspective – imagining being an excited visitor who had just arrived after a long journey.  Being thrown into such a violent and gruesome scene must have been beyond terrorizing.  I couldn’t help turning my thoughts to the Ukrainians and the terror they are living today.  Please keep them in your prayers.  

Next up:  Houston!