Lot 26

Turn south of Rocksprings and the pavement gives way to caliche, and the map quits meaning much. This is the top of the Edwards Plateau, where the land lies level a while, then splits open at a draw and closes back up in cedar and live oak thick enough to swallow a pickup. Tract 26 sits in that terrain: 45.03 acres of ranch land for sale on Alamo Ranch in Edwards County, Texas, 13 miles south of town on County Road 310. Wooded nearly wall to wall. Reached at its northeast end, where the new ranch road stops at a caliche cul-de-sac.

Begin at that turnaround. It's the end of the road, so nobody passes by on the way somewhere else, and the caliche there is wide enough to swing a trailer and unload a side-by-side. Electricity runs near the county road and at various spots across this ranch, and we'll show you where the nearest poles stand when we meet you out there. How access reads in the deed and on the recorded plat is something we'll put in front of you in writing, since the paperwork governs and not the tracks you can see on the land.

The northwest end is the surprise. Brush thins, the canopy backs off, and the land opens to a grassy pocket where a person can stand clear of the cedar and watch the grass move when the afternoon wind picks up. Everything else is thick, honest cover. If you want a lane cut to a camp, that takes a saw and a Saturday, but the opening is already made for you at the far end.

A draw enters at the northeast near the road's end and cuts southwest across the tract for some 1,150 feet, leaving on the south side. That's the corridor deer use, and it's the shadiest travel on the place at midday. A second, shorter drainage nicks the west side. Neither runs steady, so let's be plain: they carry water when a storm sets in on the plateau, and a day later you're back to dry gravel and washed limestone. What they keep is the better timber, and game stays in the bottoms.

This tract isn't flat. It rises some 132 feet, from near 2,070 feet at the low end to 2,202 feet at the top, enough roll that you can't see the far side of your acreage from the turnaround. Cedar clings to the slopes and the shallow caliche. Oak gathers where the dirt runs deeper, and in July the canopy is dense enough that you step out of the sun every few yards.

Whitetail live here. Aoudad range across this stretch of the plateau, elk turn up, and hogs leave their rooting in the soft dirt of the drainages. Hunting on the ranch stays with the owners, and no outfitting for hire is allowed. The rules are short, the kind that keep the place looking like a ranch, and we'll hand you the recorded covenants so you can read every word for yourself.

The acreage is surveyed at 45.03 acres, the seller carries the paper, and 5% at closing gets it started. October is the month to see it, once the heat lets go and the deer begin moving again. Wear long sleeves, because cedar crowds you in most places out here. Call us and we'll meet you at the cul-de-sac, take the draw on foot to the south side, and finish standing in that grassy pocket at the northwest end, which is the one spot open enough to judge the whole place from.