Can we bike the Canyon Rim Trail?

On the day that we arrived at Seminole Canyon State Park, we took the ranger-led hike down into the canyon. So the second day we were up early to do the 8.5-mile canyon rim trail that will look down into Seminole canyon. That's a pretty long trail, and we thought, "Can we bike the canyon rim trail?"

Those miles would certainly go by faster on a nice smooth trail on a bike. But a half-mile into the trail, we found that this isn't a nice smooth trail. After walking our bikes down some rocky steep sections, we decided to just leave them on the side of the trail.

We took some pictures on the rim of the canyon, and stowed our bikes where we could loop back and retrieve them after our hike.

We were glad to have the cloud cover this morning, but we don't have the pretty blue skies for our pictures. We also found that the dull skies and terrain made Mark blend into the scenery. Even though he's waving his arms, can you find Mark in the picture below?

He has successfully dressed in colors that camouflage him to the drab colors of the canyon and skies this morning.

Denisa's outfit isn't much better, but you can still see her on the left-side edge of this deep canyon wall.

Since we moved slower, we could see some details that we would have missed if we were on our bikes. We saw evidence of the fossils that are imbedded in the limestone at our feet here at Seminole Canyon rim.

We also can study the native flora at this slower pace. This is the ocotillo, that dots the desert horizon. They have large thorns on their long branches, and they can grow to heights that make Mark look short. These tall gangly plants aren't strong enough for building things, and they don't produce edible fruit, so they seem like a pretty worthless part of the desert environment.

But once a year the little blooms at the end of those tall stalks erupt into a tiny bouquet. For such a big plant, the blooms are quite small, but Denisa took a close-up to show that they are just starting to open.

Some times they have double blooms. This one was so heavy that it was weighing its gangly stalk over so that we could see it. Those little blooms are happening at the top of those tall branches so that they are hard to appreciate from ground level.

In the desert where flowers are rare, the bees are excited about the ocotillo blooms.

We hiked over two miles before we finally saw some water in the canyon. The ranger yesterday explained that these tall canyon walls were not formed from the flow of a river, but rather from the occasional rain and sand-blasted force of the west Texas wind.

As we walked further, we mentioned many times that we were glad we weren't on our bikes. This would have been no fun to try to avoid the rocks and stay safe on the canyon rim on a bike. The water below us got wider and the canyon walls got taller. We have wandered into another of God's wonders!

While the canyon rim that Mark is standing on seems sturdy . .  .

a close-up shot shows that it is riddled with a form of erosion that is called honey-comb. 

We have had this long trail to ourselves all morning, but we finally caught up with a family when we got to the Panther Cave overlook. We exchanged picture-taking duties with them. The dark spot behind Mark's left shoulder is one of the trail highlights--Panther Cave.

As we zoomed in closer, we could see the cave even though its entrance is covered by trees. We could also see that a tall chain-link fence surrounds the cave to keep unsupervised visitors out.

Zooming in even more, we could see that there is a boat dock and steps that lead to the cave entrance. Right now the water is too low, but usually boat tours can transport visitors for a close-up of the pictographs found in this cave. That tour requires a 45-minute boat ride through the Amistad recreation area to get to panther cave.

We realized that we could see the most famous of the pictographs when we walked further down the canyon rim.

Zooming in even further from our perch across the canyon, we can make out the panther that was painted on that cave wall an estimated 1,500 years (or more) ago. We have found the name-sake of panther cave!

When we visited the state park museum, we took a picture of the reproduction of the panther painting. With its colors brightened, it looks more like it did when its artist first painted it.

While the rest of the pictographs are largely hidden and protected by the roof of the cave . . .

we zoomed in to see them for ourselves.

At the state park museum we found a wall-sized recreation of this cave art that looked more like its original color and detail.

It was a long walk, but this was a fun place to find on this cloudy and cool morning.

Perched up on those tall canyon walls, we had a good sampling of the desert plants. Beside Mark we can see prickly pear cactus, sotol, yucca, and the arm of that gangly ocotillo. Behind Mark, we got our first view of the Rio Grande River this morning.

This canyon rim trail took us straight south to the Rio Grande River, where we can see Mexico on the other side.

Yes, we are still glad that we aren't trying to bike in these rocky and steep areas.

Perched on the border, we're not sure if this cardinal was singing in English or Spanish this morning.

We surveyed the border line between the United States and Mexico, but we didn't see any illegal aliens making the river crossing this morning.

With the heavy brush on both sides of the river and the tall canyon walls, this looks like an impossible place to make a border crossing. No border wall is needed in this section of Texas.

Being near the water, we found more birds in this section of the hike.

This pyrrhuloxia is a relative of the cardinal, and is called the "desert cardinal."

We also found mockingbirds, hanging out in those gangly ocotillo branches that aren't strong enough to support a nest.

On the return loop hike, we were away from the canyon views. So we hiked the last miles faster with less stops. After all the drab brown scenery, Denisa had to stop to take a picture of these brave purple and yellow blooms that can survive in these dry conditions.

The clouds had broken up and we finally had blue skies by the end of our hike. But that meant that we also had warmer temperatures for the last few miles. When we circled back to get our bikes, we had to walk them over more of those big rocks.

As we made our way up this steep and rocky section, we definitely can answer the question, "Can WE bike the canyon rim trail?" Yes, Mark could have biked it, but he would have missed much of the scenery because it would have taken all his concentration to steer a bike through the rocks. He doesn't think that he would have enjoyed the ride at all. But Denisa answers the question with a resounding, "No!"