Marathon, TX 79842 - Brewster County

YE Mesa is an elevated high mountain volcanic structure sitting high over Big Bend National Park's north entrance along and includes 10 miles of the Santiago Mountains that form Persimmon Gap to the south. Rugged, wild, secluded, amazing are just a few words to describe this true mountain ranch. Santiago Peak is just off the north boundary of the ranch and is a sentinel that can be seen from all over the ranch.

Location

The ranch is 34,480 acres and was part of the South Pope Ranch, the original YE Mesa Ranch and the Bryan ranch. The ranch fronts on highway 385 for 4.5 miles and is only 30 miles south of Highway 90 at Marathon, Texas home to the famous Gage Hotel with is extraordinary accommodations, shops, restaurants, and bars. Truly a gateway property to Big Bend National Park to the south only 5.5 miles to the Persimmon Gap Visitor Center with its hiking, rafting, biking, and exploring on over 1,000,000 acres of the State and National Park lands and waters.

Acreage

34,480 acres in Brewster County, TX- This property is part of a contiguous 407,336 acre block of land.

Description

YE Mesa Ranch is as beautiful and rugged as it gets in the Big Bend Country with an excellent road system accessing valleys, mountains, and canyons throughout. The spine of the Santiago Mountains is the western boundary on the south part of the ranch but cuts across the north ranch creating a series of ridges and valleys and outstanding views. Connected to the west side of the Santiago Mountains is YE Mesa itself with a raised volcanic uplift and peak slopping off toward Chalk Draw just off the ranch. There are numerous commanding vistas of the entire Big Bend Region and its mountain features including El Pico in the Del Carmens and the entire Chiosos Mountain skyline. Approaching the mountain country on the ranch from the highway heading west are wide flats created by the Maravillas Creek drainages. That is where the two improvement areas are located on the ranch with easy access to paved highway 385.

Once you pass the improvements its up into the limestone and igneous mountain country where you have features like Javelina Gap, White Ends Peak, and YE Mesa. Elevations range from 2738 feet where Maravillas Creek leaves the ranch to 5326 feet at the summit of White Ends in the Santiago Mountains and 5385 feet at the peak of YE Mesa. Serious limestone outcrops, bluffs, and canyons with wooded drainages and draws creates a feeling of owning your own National Park.

The habitats are diverse on YE Mesa with lower to mid elevation desert grasslands and scrubs, wooded canyons to pine-oak highlands and an array of Chihuahuan Desert grasses, forbs, shrubs, cactus, and trees. Plants include dagger, yucca, lechuguilla, creosote, catclaw, javalina bush, mariola, sotol, ocotillo, and cholla with a mix of chino grama, black grama, red grama, bear grass, and sideoats grama. Brush and trees include pinon pine, juniper, hackberry, mesquite, persimmon, madrone, sumac, mountain laurel, and oaks in the higher elevations and draws. In springtime this landscape is in bloom with a wide variety of cacti, yucca, daggers, and native forbs.

Wildlife

This property is home to many species of birds, raptors, songbirds, and game birds such as blue (scaled) quail, gamble quail, mourning dove and white-winged dove as well as larger mammals such as desert mule deer, elk, javelina, aoudad, mountain lion, and occasional black bear. The brush, forbs, and grasses provide excellent habitat for these game and non-game animals. Wooded canyons are ideal for birdwatching and during spring and fall migration a myriad of neotropical songbirds.

Improvements

The ranch has a house and barn just west of the highway on the main entrance and an older headquarters and outbuildings next to Maravillas Creek beyond in the foothills of the mountains. All improvements are workable and in use by the existing Lessee and would make a good working headquarters on the ranch. Electricity continues back into the hills to serve a Big Bend Telephone tower where along the way and beyond are several excellent future Lodge locations to serve the new owner. There are also two hunting camps located up on and around YE Mesa that are served by springs.

Water

There are five submersible wells, solar and windmill on the ranch connected into a series of troughs and tanks by an extensive pipeline system. A spring servicing a remote hunting camp up on YE Mesa is captured into a tank and used for the camp and wildlife.