Seminole Canyon State Park

Approach to the rock shelter where the art is.

This is thought to depict a shaman

This is more car camping, which I knew because I've been here before. I mostly stopped in to check on my terracache (found it intact on ground and put it back where it was). The main reason to come here is to view the prehistoric rock art in the canyons, though there is a 3-mile trail to the river and other hiking in the park. The desert is beautiful, of course, with more kinds of plants than you'd expect if you've never been.

more ancient paintings, plus some really old grafitti.

Since I've done it, I'm skipping the tour (no unaccompanied hiking in canyon), but I have some photos from last time.

I came in last night and enjoyed seeing a couple of cottontails hopping around the visitor center. Even took pics, though I've seen plenty of bunnies. But then I saw about 50 more, including some big jackrabbits, on the way to the campsite, and then another couple of dozen this morning. I don't remember them being so plentiful last time (maybe because it was August). I also saw four or five turkeys last night and startled up some whitetailed deer.

There aren't that many campsites here--about 30, I think, though they seem to be expanding. Choice is one of 8 sites without electric and the rest with. Every site has a covered picnic table on a slab and a fire pit. There's a dump station, showers, and wifi. The visitor center is better than most, with a small museum showing the history of the area.

I listened to a couple of guys having a conversation late into the night last night, despite my best efforts not to. I think everyone in the campground did. And they weren't even that loud. Then the big diesel pickups and RVs started before dawn as some people left early. Again, I hate to carp, but this is not my idea of great camping. But if you like that sort of thing, and especially if you will be inside an RV anyway, this is a really nice park with good instructional displays and the aforementioned guided tours of the art.

Last time we also connected with a tour at the nearby Rock Art Foundation land, where they have some of the seminal images of the Pecos River people. That was also guided-only, and we probably got lucky that we found a tour on short notice, but it was well worth the effort. If you decide to come here, I recommend you contact them in advance to see when you can tour that site.

More later. Gotta go out and recreate so I'll have more to write.