Llano Estacado

The rim near this panel is the edge of a plain that lost its rivers. The Llano was built of gravel, sand and silt washed east from the rising Rocky Mountains by eastward-flowing streams, the same sediment that now holds the Ogallala aquifer. Then the Pecos River cut its valley northward by headward erosion and captured those streams, leaving the plain stranded above it with no source in the mountains. The Mescalero Ridge here, rimmed with hard Ogallala rock, is the cliff that capture left; Mescalero Apache hunted the sandhills at its foot.

What the plaque says

Official Scenic Historic Marker Llano Estacado Nomadic Indians and countless buffalo herds dominated this vast plain when the Vásquez de Coronado expedition explored it in 1541. Later it was the focus of Comanchero activity, and in the 19th century it became a center for cattle ranching. The name Llano Estacado, or stockaded plains, refers to the fortress-like appearance of its escarpments.

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Waldrop Park — 4.6 mi