Day 31: Seminole Canyon State Park, TX to Dryden, TX

Daily Miles: 58.8 Total Miles: 1706.5

Shaman statue at Seminole Canyon SP

This post is from yesterday, April 1, 2012. We didn’t have Internet in our hotel last night.

Today was very different than normal, but we really enjoyed it! We just ate a few snacks for breakfast because the restaurant in Comstock was closed on Sundays, and then, like we had planned, we started our day with the 10am tour of Seminole Canyon. Our tour guide, Dave, was excellent and extremely knowledgeable about all aspects of the area as well as the pictographs we saw on the tour. We both really enjoyed his informative presentation and we learned a lot from the tour. Mary was not surprised that he was the best of the best, however, because right before the tour she learned that he too is a Guilford College alum! He said that in his 17 years working at that park Mary was the first Guilford graduate he has met. 

Guilford alumni Texas State Parks chapter meeting

Once again, small world! The hike into the canyon was fairly challenging, but Mary and I both pulled through like pros. We got a lot of great pictures and enjoyed chatting with the other two couples taking the tour. We enjoyed it so much that we didn’t realize that the tour actually lasted nearly two hours and that it was already noon by the time we got back to the visitor’s center. As we finished up, Mary was asking another park employee about potential lunch options in Langtry (20 miles down the road), and she learned that there was nowhere to eat until Sanderson (80 miles away, it’s the town we’re staying in tonight). 

3000 year old rock painting

David and Cindy, one of the couples from the tour, overheard Mary’s conversation and they invited us back to their RV for lunch. We gladly accepted, seeing as we hadn’t really eaten a decent breakfast and had zero prospects for lunch. We had a great time chatting with the two of them, learning about their travels, and sharing a great lunch of rice, beans, veggies, tortillas, and chips. By 1pm we really had to hit the road, and we bid our new friends farewell. 

Lunch with Cindy and David

By the time I got on the road it was about 1:20 and oppressively hot. Easily once again in the 90s and getting hotter. I really wanted to try to make it the ~60 miles to Dryden, but I wasn’t sure I would be able to. I got going and immediately started climbing. I ended up climbing over 2500’ today, but fortunately had a pretty nice tailwind helping me along. I only stopped once for about 30-40 minutes to eat a little more and drink a lot more liquid. The scenery today was similar to yesterday and still very pretty. 

Crossing the Pecos River

I made it in to Dryden around 6:15pm and then we drove the 20 miles on to Sanderson, the self-proclaimed Cactus Capital of Texas, to find a hotel and dinner. We had very little luck finding dinner, since all ~3 restaurants were closed, so we had to settle for gas station fare. I had 2 corndogs and a Cup Of Noodles. Awful, I know. We’re staying in the Budget Inn, a fine hotel run by a very nice man who gave us the special cyclist’s rate of $45. Not too shabby. Tomorrow will be a big day of big climbs and a big 75 miles.