Cerro Castellan - Big Bend NP TX - American Guide Series on Waymarking.com

From Texas: A Guide to the Lone Star State:

"State 227 proceeds almost directly south, then turns sharply west to the junction with a dirt road at 96.2 m.

Left on this road to CASTOLON, 7.3 m. (2,124 alt., 50 pop.). This small settlement is occupied chiefly by the trading post of W. R. Cartledge. Its name was taken from the Spanish word castellan, which means warden of a castle. The little community sprawls in the shadow of strangely colored CERRO CASTELLAN (Warden Peak), the sheer salmon-pink bluffs of which rise to an elevation of 3,283 feet.

Castolon was a subpost of Camp Marfa during the Mexican border troubles in 1910. A post office was established in 1922. Across the river is the old Mexican town of Santa Helena, at which are stationed mounted Mexican river guards. On application at the customhouse a trip can be made into Mexico."

This interpretive sign for Cerro Castellan, one of the most dramatic peaks at Big Bend (especially when the sun hits it) is located along the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive in Big Bend National Park.

The sign reads as follows:

"CERRO CASTELLAN (Castolon Peak)
the layers visible in Cerro Castellan reveal millions of years of volcanic events. Stacked in this tower are several lava flows in volcanic tuffs (ash deposits) with layers of gravel and clay from periods of erosion between eruptions. As you continue on the drive, look for further signs of volcanism – pale beds of volcanic ash and dark basaltic boulders.

Many of Big Bend’s dramatic landmarks of molten origins. Though the Mule Ears Peaks, Cerro Castellan, and Chisos Mountains appear isolated from one another, they are closely related.

Cerro Castellan’s cap rock is the same lava that form the Chisos’ South Rim. Ash layers older than Cerro Castellan’s can also be found at Tuff Canyon."

Book: Texas Page Number(s) of Excerpt: 629 Year Originally Published: 1940

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