Edge of Plains

West of this rest area the land the panel assigns to the Basin and Range begins with something older. The Pedernal Hills, farther west in Torrance County, are knobs of Precambrian rock, remnants of an ancestral Rocky Mountain uplift of roughly 300 million years ago that was buried in red sediment and later uncovered by erosion. Beyond them lies the Estancia Basin, a closed basin whose old lakes never drained to the Pecos. The ground at this stop stands near 5,530 feet, about a thousand below the elevation the panel prints.

What the plaque says

Official Scenic Historic Marker Edge of Plains Grassy plains meet pine dotted uplands in this transition from Great Plains to Basin and Range provinces. Plains to the east are capped by caliche, sand, and gravel which are deeply eroded into underlying bedrock in places. To the west, faulting has pro- duced alternating highlands and intermountain basins of the Basin and Range province. Elevation 6,500 feet.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Blue Hole — 24 mi
  A bell-shaped artesian spring in Santa Rosa, 81 feet deep and a steady 61 or 62 degrees, where divers from across the region learn to dive at altitude.

More markers nearby

• Trail of the Forty-Niners — 0.4 mi
• Mela Leger-Bilingual Education Pioneer — 14 mi
• Santa Rosa — 22 mi
• Santa Rosa — 22 mi