A jewel in West Texas...canyons and pictroglyphs...

We discovered this jewel when looking for a place to park that was close to Del Rio....with a border town  just a short 2.8 miles to the West, you just would not know there were some of the best preserved pictroglyphs that we have seen during our travels.

 

 

Seminole Canyon, located on US 90, roughly 40 miles north of Del Rio Texas...high up on the rim of the canyon, the two nights we were there we experienced high winds. According to the park host...it is windy there much of the time. It was also on the cool side the day we decided to take the afternoon guided tour of the canyon pictographs.



 

The Maker of Peace

 While we were waiting for the canyon tour guides to appear we went for a walk around the grounds of the visitor center and came upon this beautiful bronze sculpture of the "Ancient Ones"...or how many of the pictroglyphs found in the canyon was incorporated into this art piece.  This photo does not do it justice for sure. It is so large that you can't get close enough to get a good shot of it.

 

sign says it all

 

The canyon hikes requires a guide, however there is a 7 mi /rt canyon rim trail that you can take alone and they also have volunteer guides that have scheduled hikes offered during the week.

Descriptive panels line the shelter trail

 The photo below is captured in the panel above....Paintings by Forrest Kirkland - "In 1934, Forrest developed his technique for copying the pictographs: careful measurement and scaling, pencil sketching, and then water coloring with matching colors. He didn't paint anything he couldn't see. His vision to preserve the rock art of Texas in watercolor became a mission. He would paint and Lula, his partner, would drive, scout, photograph, sketch, and cook. Lula performed most of the chores because Forrest's heart was weakened from childhood Rheumatic fever. "

 

 



 

 

With time, weather and early collectors of artifacts, the visual completeness of some of these pictroglyphs would be lost if not for Kirkland's artistry. 

 

The several shelters we were able to visit during our 90 min hike captures just some of the history of the "Ancient Ones" .... who actually traveled through this canyon and used has not been determined.

 

~ Ciao