Mark P Betts
Sotol Vista Sunset
Ross Maxwell, who was an excellent geologist and the first Superintendent of Big Bend National Park, laid out some of the roads in the park. He knew where the interesting sites were and had already seen most of the vistas and he took full advantage of his knowledge when laying out this roads. In fact, this overlook is off of the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive that traverses the western end of the Park and is named in his honor. Even though there it is just a drive-up stop, it is one of my not to be missed stops in the park.
This is called The Sotol Vista Overlook. It is named for the sotol plant that was used extensively by early natives throughout the region. The sotol grows in communities or “clumps” and covers much the slope of the west side of the overlook including the foreground of this photo.
The overlook is located on top of the Burro Mesa which is on the down-thrown side of the Burro Mesa fault. The fault splinters into several faults just to the right of this photograph. These splinter faults gradually lower the blocks into the Costolon Graben of the Sunken Block. Goat Mountain is on the far left. We will look at fabulous Goat Mountain a little later.
A little farther out and toward the middle is Kit Mountain looking like an inclined mesa. Both Goat Mountain and Kit Mountain are volcanic vents and may have been stratovolcanoes originally although they have been heavily altered by erosion.
Even further away is the up-thrown block of Cretaceous Limestone which was uplifted by the Terlingua fault and forms the western edge of the Costolon Graben and the Sunken Block. Santa Elena Canyon can be seen as a gap on this cliff face just above Kit Mountain.
MG_3449
Sotol Vista Sunset
Ross Maxwell, who was an excellent geologist and the first Superintendent of Big Bend National Park, laid out some of the roads in the park. He knew where the interesting sites were and had already seen most of the vistas and he took full advantage of his knowledge when laying out this roads. In fact, this overlook is off of the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive that traverses the western end of the Park and is named in his honor. Even though there it is just a drive-up stop, it is one of my not to be missed stops in the park.
This is called The Sotol Vista Overlook. It is named for the sotol plant that was used extensively by early natives throughout the region. The sotol grows in communities or “clumps” and covers much the slope of the west side of the overlook including the foreground of this photo.
The overlook is located on top of the Burro Mesa which is on the down-thrown side of the Burro Mesa fault. The fault splinters into several faults just to the right of this photograph. These splinter faults gradually lower the blocks into the Costolon Graben of the Sunken Block. Goat Mountain is on the far left. We will look at fabulous Goat Mountain a little later.
A little farther out and toward the middle is Kit Mountain looking like an inclined mesa. Both Goat Mountain and Kit Mountain are volcanic vents and may have been stratovolcanoes originally although they have been heavily altered by erosion.
Even further away is the up-thrown block of Cretaceous Limestone which was uplifted by the Terlingua fault and forms the western edge of the Costolon Graben and the Sunken Block. Santa Elena Canyon can be seen as a gap on this cliff face just above Kit Mountain.
MG_3449