Brewster Co. Rest Area -- US 385, 12 miles S of Marathon TX - Highway Rest Areas on Waymarking.com

The state historic marker for Los Caballos, a formation in the Ouachita Structural Belt through this part of Texas, is located in an otherwise nondescript 1960s-vintage rest area along the US 385 south of Marathon.

The marker reads as follows:

"LOS CABALLOS
(in core of Ouachuta Structural Belt)

Highly deformed rocks in the Ouachita Fold Belt, a northeasterly trending range, uplifted about 275 to 290 million years ago. The intricate folding is shown by whitish rock bands--called caballos (the Spanish word for horses)--exposed on both sides of this highway. The Ouachita Fold is comparable in age to the uplift that formed the Appalachians in the eastern part of the United States.

The northwesterly trending Del Norte-Santiago range (southmost extension of the Rocky Mountains) forms the southwestern skyline. The rocks of the range were deposited in a sea that covered the Ouachita Fold Belt after erosion had reduced the highlands and a later submergence lowered the area. Santiago Peak (named for a local man who was killed by Indians and buried beneath the peak) is the high, flat-topped mountain to the southwest. It was once a mass of molten magma that cooled and hardened underneath the earth's surface and was uncovered by later erosion. The Del Norte-Santiago range, uplifted and folded 40 to 60 million years ago, is not half the age of the Ouachita Fold. This is a remarkable fusion of ""old"" and ""young"" mountains--and is unmatched at any other site in North America. (1970)"

IMPORTANT: If you visit this rest area and you are not from Texas, please be sure to check underneath the picnic table seats and the picnic table surface for black widow spiders, which love these kinds of remote out-of-the-way corner places to make their homes. If you get bitten by a black widow you will need to go to the hospital for treatment.

Similarly, keep children and pets away from the bushes because rattlesnakes and scorpions may be found underneath them, especially in the summertime when it's hot.

That's not to say that this is an unnecessarily dangerous or hazardous rest area: quite the contrary. It's very nice. However, like as with everything else in Texas, before you go setting your body parts on something in the landscape with hidden corners or crevices, you need to make sure that no one is living there first. And before you stomp through the brush, you need to make sure you're not going to step on someone who should not be stepped on. That's all. :)

Highway Number: US 385 Highway Access Direction: Either Direction Rest Area Name: Los Caballos Rest Area Facilities: Picnic Tables and shelter Trash Barrels Services: none Special Features: Historic marker WiFi: no Common Name for the Highway: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
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Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   12/26/2016 Benchmark Blasterz visited it