Camping at Davis Mountains State Park

Campsite at Davis Mountains State Park

Driving towards Fort Davis from Alpine, there was a mountain that really stood apart from the others because of its shape.  The name of the mountain is Mitre Peak, and it’s really hard to miss because it is nearly a perfect cone.  I later learned that this mountain was formed by lava nearing the surface from below, but never actually erupting as a volcano.  The lave cooled and hardened and the rest of the softer sedimentary rock around it eroded over time leaving this conical formation behind.

I arrived at Davis Mountains about mid afternoon, and didn’t have any special plans for my stay other than to get some laundry done in town and do a little grocery shopping.  The campsite that I stayed at had a tree shading a picnic table, which turned out to be a good spot edit some photos and update my journal.  There was no internet access at the campsite (there is good access at the top of Skyline Drive, so communicating with the outside world is still possible).  There also wasn’t any broadcast TV and there was only one radio station (NPR) in the campground.  This is a perfect spot to really disconnect from everything.

Skyline Drive

The trail to the top of Skyline Drive was closed while I was here, but the drive itself was pretty nice, and the views from the summit are amazing.  It overlooks the Fort Davis National Historical Site that I visited last year, as well as the town of Fort Davis.

Camping at Seminole Canyon SP

Campground Selfie

I was really looking forward to my stay at this campground, mainly for the guided tour of the pictographs in the canyon.  This spot didn’t let me down.  I had a great stay here.  This spot is right next to the Rio Grande, and the nearest town is Comstock, with a population of under 200 people.  I didn’t get any radio reception, and only a few channels on the TV that came in from Mexico.  I did have good internet access though, so that was a pleasant surprise.

After checking in at the visitor center, I drove towards my campsite to get set up for my stay.  Along the way I noticed what looked like an old pizza oven about a hundred feet off the road.  This is actually an old bread oven that was probably used by bakers who sold bread to the railroad workers who put in a section of a railroad that spanned between El Paso and San Antonio.

On the day that I arrived there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.  Since it was too late to start one of the longer hikes I had planned for my visit, I went to look at the bird blind set up near the center of the campground.  It’s a nice shaded spot that overlooks a fountain set up to attract birds that might want to cool off from the desert heat.

My first full-day started off with the pictograph tour in the morning, followed by a hike on the Rio Grande trail in the afternoon.  It was another sunny day, and the temperature during the morning tour was great.  The afternoon was nice too, but it got pretty hot. It was still a good time; there’s something about solitude on the trail that just can’t be beat.

On my second day, I hiked the trail to the La Presa Overlook.  This day was a little overcast and it sprinkled a little bit while I was on the trail.  It was just enough to cool things off, so desert heat wasn’t a concern.  The weather conditions during the day, though, foretold a rough evening ahead.

During the evening a storm moved in with winds in the 60 mph range.  Sitting in the trailer, it was honestly a little scary.  I ended up getting ready to make a dash for the bath house if things got any worse.  Luckily the worst of the storm only lasted about a half hour.  I was sitting in the trailer watching the flashing lights of emergency vehicles going back and forth along the highway a few miles away, with the wind blown rain falling sideways. When the storm finally passed, all was well, but I felt bad for the folks who were tent-camping on the other side of the campground.  That had to be even more scary for them.

All in all though, I had a great time here.  If I’m in the area again, I wouldn’t mind spending a few more days  here to explore the rest of the trails and visit some of the other nearby historic sites.

Related Posts

Birding Trail	Guided Pictograph Hike
Rio Grande Trail	La Presa Overlook Trail

Hiking to La Presa Overlook–Seminole Canyon SP

Andy From Across The Canyon

This hike started about mid-morning but early enough to finish before the afternoon showers that were forecast for today.  At the beginning of the trail I met a couple of other hikers who had the same plan as me.  They were behind me for a good portion of the  hike but eventually we caught up with each other.

The trailhead for the La Presa Overlook trail is the same as the one for the Rio Grande trail, but this one split off at a trail intersection after about half a mile.  The trail intersection is very close to an old railroad bed that remains from the section of the Southern Pacific Railroad that spanned between El Paso and San Antonio.

Continuing along this leg the trail for about a half mile, I came across a small bridge near the canyon.  The bridge spans a small area, and seems to be designed only to keep hikers from walking over what remains of two “wikiups” that were inhabited sometime between 500AD and 1000 AD. To be honest, I couldn’t make out the stone rings among the other stones in the  area, so I’ll just take the placard at it’s word.

A little beyond the bridges, I saw the hikers that I met at the beginning of the trail on the other side of a curve in the canyon wall.  We waved and took a photo of each other – I thought it came out pretty cool when I put ‘em side by side.

In the area that I took this photo I began seeing a lot of fossils / impressions that were loose.  Some folks had even taken the time to make a little display alongside the trail. 

I arrived at La Presa Overlook about two miles from the trailhead. The overlook is nice, and offers  a panoramic view of the junction of two river beds that lead into another which would then flow towards the Rio Grande River.

By this time, I could see that the rain that was predicted for later in the afternoon was going to come in early, so rather than continue  along the trail for the next overlook a couple of miles away, I decided to head to hopefully get back to my campsite before the storms opened up.   On the way back, I saw a jackrabbit watching me from the edge of the trail.  It’s amazing how well he was camouflaged, but if you look closely you can see him in the  center of the photo.

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