Mile Marker #2

Sotol grasslands dominate between 3,500-5,000 feet (1,066-1,524 meters)

NPS/B. Trester

Quick Facts

Location:

2 miles north of Panther Junction

Have you noticed the changes in the vegetation over the last couple of miles? You are beginning to enter a higher area of Big Bend - an area that is cooler and receives more precipitation than does the previous 25 miles you have driven. Because of these conditions, the desert is giving way to a greener and more moderate habitat called the Sotol-Grassland. This habitat is typically found between 3,500 to 5,000 feet (1,066 - 1,524 meters). The sotol plant is a crowded cluster of ribbonlike leaves up to three feet long, with sawtooth margins. In April and May, the plants produce a stalk 10 to 20 feet high which gives the sotol a second name - Desert Candle. The indigenous Americans baked the "heart" of the sotol for food. Today it would be more likely to find these baked hearts fermented and distilled into a tequila--like liquor, also called sotol.