Our two days at the Lake Casa Blanca State Park in Laredo went as planned. On Friday, we hiked around the park. They don’t have a lot of nature trails, but they have one trail that winds through the sage brush, and then you can walk through the park along the lake. We found another small trail near the campground that runs by a church ruin and then around the top of a small hill, giving a view of the surrounding area so you can see the layout of the park. The weather was just about perfect, with sunshine, a slight breeze, and temperatures in the mid-60s.
Hiking at Lake Casa Blanca State Park. Don't worry, Ty is there, in front of Tom.
An old church in the park, which used to be a museum, but which is now just a ruin.
On Saturday, we took out the e-bikes and biked a trail that runs through the city to the Rio Grande. Getting there was a little tense since the park is wedged between two very busy state highways, each with two lanes running in both directions. However, both highways have sidewalks on both sides of the road, so we rode the bikes along the sidewalk and it wasn’t too bad. We know bikes are supposed to follow traffic laws, but we didn’t see any pedestrians on the sidewalks, and we did see a lot of bicycle tire tracks in the sandy spots along the way. We found a way to get to the trailhead through neighborhoods to minimize the time on the highway, which caused a brief burp when we arrived at a gate where we had apparently pedaled into a gated community through an open back gate. The gate didn’t seem to have any sensors to open for a couple of wayward cycles, but some resident took pity on us an opened it remotely.
From there we quickly found the trailhead and headed towards the river. On a beautiful sunny Saturday, we only saw one other bicycle, and a few walkers, which surprised us since the trail runs through a few city parks where we did see people enjoying the day, although they must have driven there rather than walked or bicycled. The trail is fun to ride, very twisty and windy, and it crosses bridges and runs under overpasses so we didn’t have to stop at all. All of the sudden we saw a big waterway in front of us and realized we’d arrived at the Rio Grande at the end of the trail. We pulled up and looked at Mexico and took some photos. We didn’t see a wall, we didn’t see hordes of migrants swimming across the river, and the only reason we even knew we were at the border was because there were a couple of floodlights and one truck with a few soldiers in the park at the end of the trail on the US side. We discussed packing up and heading back into Mexico for a month or so, but decided that with the expense of getting the truck insured, and getting an international vet certificate for the animals, we were probably better off continuing our trip in the US. We retraced our path back to the campground, and packed up so we’d be ready to head to Seminole Canyon State Park in the morning.
From there we quickly found the trailhead and headed towards the river. On a beautiful sunny Saturday, we only saw one other bicycle, and a few walkers, which surprised us since the trail runs through a few city parks where we did see people enjoying the day, although they must have driven there rather than walked or bicycled. The trail is fun to ride, very twisty and windy, and it crosses bridges and runs under overpasses so we didn’t have to stop at all. All of the sudden we saw a big waterway in front of us and realized we’d arrived at the Rio Grande at the end of the trail. We pulled up and looked at Mexico and took some photos. We didn’t see a wall, we didn’t see hordes of migrants swimming across the river, and the only reason we even knew we were at the border was because there were a couple of floodlights and one truck with a few soldiers in the park at the end of the trail on the US side. We discussed packing up and heading back into Mexico for a month or so, but decided that with the expense of getting the truck insured, and getting an international vet certificate for the animals, we were probably better off continuing our trip in the US. We retraced our path back to the campground, and packed up so we’d be ready to head to Seminole Canyon State Park in the morning.
Ah, Mexico. So close but yet so far. And not a swimming Mexican in sight. And where's the damned wall???
Sunday morning, we packed up and headed north, following the river. We’d already made reservations at a primitive campsite at Seminole Canyon, so we made sure to fill our water tank and empty our gray tank. Ever since the ice storm, we’d been staying at campsites so we could plug in and use the heater, and that also meant that we could charge our batteries, so we were heading out with 100% charge on our batteries as well. All good, right?
Somewhere along the drive, I took a look at our battery status and realized that we weren’t getting any charge from the solar panels. We didn’t worry too much because previously we’ve had to turn things off and on and switch some switches to get things running correctly after we’ve been plugged in to shore power. When we stopped to get lunch and do some shopping, Tom switched the switches and figured that when we were ready to leave and he turned things on again, everything would be working as usual. But, nothing had changed. We continued on our way to the park and planned an overnight hard shutdown to kickstart things.
We arrived at Seminole Canyon State Park around 4pm. This park is truly in the middle of nowhere, and as we had driven out of the last town on the road before the park, we had noticed a sign warning that there were no services on the route for 88 miles. So far in our travels, I don’t think we’ve gone 20 miles without seeing road services, so it was a little bit of a surprise.
Somewhere along the drive, I took a look at our battery status and realized that we weren’t getting any charge from the solar panels. We didn’t worry too much because previously we’ve had to turn things off and on and switch some switches to get things running correctly after we’ve been plugged in to shore power. When we stopped to get lunch and do some shopping, Tom switched the switches and figured that when we were ready to leave and he turned things on again, everything would be working as usual. But, nothing had changed. We continued on our way to the park and planned an overnight hard shutdown to kickstart things.
We arrived at Seminole Canyon State Park around 4pm. This park is truly in the middle of nowhere, and as we had driven out of the last town on the road before the park, we had noticed a sign warning that there were no services on the route for 88 miles. So far in our travels, I don’t think we’ve gone 20 miles without seeing road services, so it was a little bit of a surprise.
Heading towards Seminole Canyon State Park, there's a whole lot of nothing!
The Visitor Center for the park is about a half mile off the state road, and is set on a bluff overlooking the canyon. We checked in, and headed for our campsite, which is another mile down the park road. The sun isn’t setting until almost 6:30 here now, so we had time to take a 3.5 mile walk the ranger had recommended before dark. At first we just commented on the beauty of the desert, until we walked around a corner and saw the canyon in front of us. It was…I’m not really sure how to describe it from my north east perspective. Breathtaking? Stunning? Gorgeous? Fill in the superlative of your choice. I know this isn’t even a big canyon like the Grand Canyon, but for someone who’s never been near this type of geology before, it’s big enough. We finished our walk, moving pretty slowly as we stopped to take a lot of photos.
Hiking at the edge of the canyon was scenic, but a little tense. The park ranger told us that our dogs needed to stay on six foot leashes...as though we would trust them to run loose!
Scenic & safe!
That's our camper in the distance from the trail along the canyon rim.
We got back to the campsite shortly before sunset, and were treated to the most amazing sunset. The horizon goes on forever here, and the setting sun takes up the whole sky. We’re parked so our door faces basically west, so that’s where the sun was actually setting, but I could look out my kitchen window on the opposite side of the camper, and the colors were just as impressive. Then, the full moon rose, and I mumbled about how I was going to take a photo even though moon photos never look like what you’re seeing. While the photo doesn’t fully capture the beauty, it’s a lot closer than most moon photos, and the photo is completely unaltered.
Sunset with the Mexican mountains in the distance. The WHOLE sky was this color.
Full moon rising, not photoshopped. Honest.
Sunday night we shut down our electrical system. It was cool enough that we weren’t worried about the food in the refrigerator, and we hoped that would do the trick. But, on Monday morning when we turned it back on, nothing had changed. I headed out to do some chores and left Tom and his tools working in the electrical box. I returned an hour or so later and asked if he’d been able to fix it. He’d looked at a couple of circuit breakers and wiggled some wires, but hadn’t found any problems, so hadn’t really done anything, and he was starting to get worried. I decided to look at the system status on my phone, just out of curiosity…and saw that the solar panels were charging like normal. I showed him, thanked him, and left him looking puzzled that it was now working. He still doesn’t know what he did to fix it, but we decided to take it.
Our original plan at this park had been to do some hiking and take the tour where they take you to see ancient cave paintings. When we checked in Sunday afternoon, we found that the tours don’t run on Monday and Tuesday, so we decided to extend our stay by a night and book the cave painting tour for Wednesday morning. This left Monday to hike the other park trails, where we were pleasantly surprised that dogs are welcome. We followed the ranger’s advice and headed about 4 miles along the Canyon Rim trail to the end, where the canyon meets the Rio Grande, and where there is an overlook to see another ancient cave painting.
Our original plan at this park had been to do some hiking and take the tour where they take you to see ancient cave paintings. When we checked in Sunday afternoon, we found that the tours don’t run on Monday and Tuesday, so we decided to extend our stay by a night and book the cave painting tour for Wednesday morning. This left Monday to hike the other park trails, where we were pleasantly surprised that dogs are welcome. We followed the ranger’s advice and headed about 4 miles along the Canyon Rim trail to the end, where the canyon meets the Rio Grande, and where there is an overlook to see another ancient cave painting.
We followed the canyon all the way to the end, where it meets the Rio Grande.
That's the Rio Grande, through the gap.
The canyon is pretty impressive, all on its own.
We knew from the day before that we would be hiking through desert, and the day had warmed up into the 70s, so we set off more water than we usually take. We usually run lean on water and end up taking some home, so we thought our liter of water would be plenty. We were a little surprised when the dogs were panting after only about 2.5 miles, so we stopped and had a drink and shared some water with them. We continued along the canyon trail to the Panther Cave Overlook, which is a shallow cave on the other side of the canyon which contains a large painting, including a 9-foot panther. The ranger had said that you could see the panther with bare eyes or even better with binoculars, but I hadn’t had much hope of seeing anything. We don’t have binoculars with us, so we squinched up our eyes to see as best we could, but couldn’t really see much. Then I had the brainstorm to take a blown up photo with my iPhone camera, and even though it’s not perfect, I got a pretty clear photo of the panther.
The dock area is where boats go so people can see the Panther Cave paintings up close.
That's the panther, right in the middle. I love my iPhone camera!
This is what the whole painting looks like, and which can't be seen from the other side. The panther is at the far right of this depiction.
We continued along the trail, which runs out to the Rio Grande, and again looked at Mexico. At this point on the river, Mexico has its own wall made by Mother Nature, and the photos don’t capture how BIG everything is. Tom’s phone also made us realize how windy it was when the howling wind tripped his noise alarm. Between the heat and the wind, we thought we should maybe drink a little, and when I pulled out the water bottle we realized that the panting dogs were also looking very hopeful. We repeated our earlier exercise, with each of us taking a mouthful of water and then sharing the rest of the bottle between the dogs. We weren’t in any danger of getting ill from dehydration, and were in fact more worried about the dogs, so it wasn’t a big deal, but we made a mental note that in our upcoming desert hikes we’d need to be a little more careful.
Look, Mexico has its own wall!
The Texas/Mexico border snakes along the Rio Grande, with cliffs and wilderness on either side.
I may have mentioned in earlier blog posts that one of the surprises of this trip is the quality of the state parks we are finding. And, while I probably wouldn’t call Texas my favorite state, their state parks are the crème de la crème of state parks from what we’ve seen so far. All of the Texas state parks have something incredible to share, whether it’s a unique ecosystem, dinosaur tracks, ancient cave paintings, incredible geology, or something else. They are also very conscious of taking care of their visitors, as we found when we rounded a corner on the trail and saw two big livestock troughs set up on the side. We wondered what they were for, until I walked over to look and found that they were full of clear cool water. We didn’t trust it to be potable, but we took the dogs over and let them drink as much as they wanted, commenting on how we maybe wouldn’t have shared all of our water with them had we known the livestock troughs were there. We will probably be hiking out there again today and tomorrow, and we will work the troughs into our route so we can water the dogs without depleting our own supply.
We returned to the campsite in time for another beautiful sunset. Our Lake Casa Blanca campground neighbors had pulled in near us, so we had a visit with them, as well as with a German gentleman driving a big Unimog overlander vehicle. We’ll be taking another hike today, and are doing the cave painting tour tomorrow to see the other cave paintings. I’m sure I’ll be posting more photos soon.
We returned to the campsite in time for another beautiful sunset. Our Lake Casa Blanca campground neighbors had pulled in near us, so we had a visit with them, as well as with a German gentleman driving a big Unimog overlander vehicle. We’ll be taking another hike today, and are doing the cave painting tour tomorrow to see the other cave paintings. I’m sure I’ll be posting more photos soon.