The flat plain west of here ends in a wall a few hundred feet high running some 200 miles north to south, and the thing holding it up is a layer of caliche — calcium carbonate precipitated out of groundwater into a hard crust, capping softer red beds beneath. That cap is what makes the Llano Estacado so extraordinarily flat, and its edge is what makes the break so abrupt. Coronado's chroniclers described the plain above in 1541 as a sea with no landmark to steer by.
Getting there
33.5320, -101.6780
Locations are approximate and may be inaccurate, on private land, or otherwise inaccessible. Check before you travel.
Hear it from the road
Whistlestop tells you this story automatically when you drive past. No searching, no tapping, nothing to ask.
