Traveling the Texas/Mexico Border

We departed from Balmorhea State Park at 9:15 AM on Friday, November 15 heading east on Interstate 10 towards Fort Stockton,Texas for fuel, From Fort Stockton we traveled south and east on US 285 and US 90 to Seminole Canyon State Park and Historic Site. This part of the journey follows the Rio Grand River southeast to the Gulf of Mexico. There isn't much along the route except desert scenery and the occasional US Border Patrol vehicle. We passed through the small, unincorporated town of Sanderson stopping only for lunch along the way. Before arriving at the park we crossed the Pecos River that flows into the Rio Grande.

Anyone driving Highway 90 between Del Rio and Langtry will find it necessary to cross the significant canyon gorge carved by the Pecos River. Before the mid-20th century, travelers were required to negotiate a two-lane switchback to descend the canyon walls before reaching the first highway bridge across the river, built in 1923 and destroyed by flood waters in 1954. Two temporary low water bridges were also washed away over the course of the following year. The current Pecos River Bridge is the highest highway bridge in Texas, at 1,310 feet long and originally 273 feet above the water (a measurement that now fluctuates with the rise and fall of Lake Amistad water levels).

An overlook alongside a pullout on the northeast end of the bridge affords excellent views of the Pecos River canyon. Upstream just a few miles, out of sight around a river bend, is the second iteration of perhaps the most famous bridge in Texas – the Pecos High Bridge, also known to railway enthusiasts as the Pecos Viaduct. Completed in 1892 to accommodate the southern transcontinental railroad, it was at the time the third-highest bridge in the world. The cantilevered bridge, composed of an iron and steel latticework suspended across the canyon, contained over 1,820 tons of metal. Reinforced in the 1920s, the bridge remained in service until a replacement was constructed during World War ll, another engineering marvel still in use today.

Seminole Canyon State Park & Historic Site has 46 campsites. These range from primitive drive-up sites to sites with water and electricity, all with restrooms and showers nearby. One can hike and bike to the Rio Grande or along the Seminole Canyon rim. The park has almost 10 miles of trails.

Saturday morning we scheduled to take the Fate Bell Shelter Tour: a fairly rugged hike to the Fate Bell Shelter. Protected by a huge cliff overhang, the shelter holds some of Texas’ most spectacular rock art. Early canyon dwellers left clues to their lives on the stone walls of Seminole Canyon. Their pictographs tell stories that we try to understand today. So we come to see this special place for ourselves along the Rio Grande near Del Rio.

Almost 4,000 years ago, in southwest Texas (USA) and Coahuila (Mexico), hunter-gatherer artists painted some of the most complex murals in the world. They wove together layers of black, red, yellow, and white paint to create visual narratives. In Indigenous realities, images such as these are not passive decorations. They are reservoirs of power actively engaged in creation-past, present, and future. This exhibit explores how form, color, materiality of the paint, and the image-making process infused the murals with meaning and activated the characters in the stories they relate.

Archaeologists have reported more than 300 prehistoric murals in this region. New rock art sites are discovered every year. The murals range considerably in size and complexity. Some are small, less than a meter in length and height, and have only a few figures. Others hold thousands of figures and are as much as 150 meters long and 15 meters high. While some may see these as a random collection of images painted over long periods of time, trained artists have shown that many of the murals are planned compositions.

Fate Bell Annex, Fate Bell Shelter and Running Horse Shelter are all situated in Seminole Canyon State Park and Historic Site. Seminole Canyon is a major tributary of the Rio Grande River. Fate Bell is one of the most famous and largest Pecos River Style rock art sites in the Lower Pecos Canyonlands Archeological District — A National Historic Landmark. Not only is the rock art breath-taking but the archaeological deposits within the shelter are also extremely well-preserved.

Before we took the walking tour, we visited the museum at the park ranger headquarters. There were multiple exhibits about the life of the canyon dwellers including how they hunted bison, gathered plants to eat and prepared their food. This was a fascinating experience 'off the beaten path' as we journey through this region of Texas.