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The Texas coastal plains are a vast area bordered on the north and west by the
Balcones Escarpment, an ancient geological Texas fault line spaning east from Del Rio to San Antonio, Austin and then curving northward to the east of Dallas.
South and east of the fault line, the coastal plains fill the rest of Texas, east along both banks of the Red river to Louisiana, south along both banks of the Sabine river to the Gulf of Mexico, then down the coast into the subtropical area of the Rio Grande river and upriver all the way to Del Rio.
However, the southernmost area, a large triangular shaped part of the Texas coastal lands is distinguished from the rest of the Gulf Coastal Plains by showing characteristics of both the plains to the north and those to the south in northern Mexico, having similarity of topography, climate and plant life. This lower area of the coastal plain is a vast expanse reaching from just south of the Balcones Escarpment in Texas south to the Sierra Madre Oriental in northern Mexico and as some would explain, eastward to the Gulf Coast and including the southern half of the Texas
Western Gulf Coastal Plains. However, my experiences in these two ecoregions says different as there is a swath of land adjacent to the coast that remains wetter and still receives much more rain than the dryer ecoregion to the west. In fact, just this years, as I divided my time between the Southern Inland Plains to the west and the Western Gulf Coastal plains to the east, I repeatedly received a constant barrage of rain in the eastern ecoregion when at Harlingen, Texas, as opposed to when driving to
Falcon state park which is in the western ecoregion to obtain my hot shower, which was always dry and desert like.
Nevertheless, this large swath of lowlands is known as the
Rio Grande River Valley and this valley is partly prairie, however, much of it is covered with a dense growth of
prickly pear (Opuntia) cactus, mesquite, dwarf oak, catclaw, guajillo, huisache, blackbrush, cenizo, and other cactus and wild shrubs. These areas are often called the Brush Country, and also referred to as the chaparral and the monte, from a Spanish word that can mean dense brush.
Much of the land area is devoted primarily to livestock raising including: cattle, sheep, and goats. The Texas Angora goat and mohair industry centers in this area and on the Edwards Plateau to the north. San Antonio and Laredo are its chief commercial centers, with San Antonio dominating most commercial stock trade.
The Southern Inland Plains is on the cusp of the North American
Climate Divide which is a geographical climate division between the dry west side and the much wetter eastern side. This entire Southern Inland Plains ecoregion falls within the dry side by having less than 25 inches annually. Too, the hot summers cause heavy evaporation making cultivation without irrigation extremely limited.
The Lipan Apache are Southern
Athabascan (Apachean) indigenous people whose traditional territory, prior to the 17th century, includes present-day US states of Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado, and the northern Mexican states of Chihuahua, Nuevo León, Coahuila, and Tamaulipas.
Present-day Lipan live mostly throughout the southwestern areas in Texas, New Mexico, and the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation in Arizona, as well as with the Mescalero tribe on the Mescalero Reservation in New Mexico.
On March 18, 2009, the Texas Legislature passed resolutions recognizing the Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas. The Lipan Apache tribe are members of the National Congress of American Indians as a state-recognized tribe and are headquartered in McAllen, Texas.
Falcon County campground on the Rio Grande River near Falcon Heights, TX
Falcon State Park on the Rio Grande River near Falcon Heights, TX
Rivers
Pathway Journeys:
Footpath Journeys
Roadpath Journeys
The Royal Roads (Los Caminos Reales)
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