Boot Canyon is a deep, rugged valley cut by an intermittent stream high in the Chisos Mountains of Big Bend National Park in southern Brewster County. The headwaters of its drainage are near the South Rim of the Chisos Mountains, south of Emory Peak (at 29°14' N, 103°17' W). The stream is fed by Boot Spring. The canyon runs northeast for four miles to its mouth near the upper end of Juniper Canyon (at 29°15' N, 103°16' W). Boot Canyon descends rapidly some 2,500 feet. Near its midpoint stands a giant rock spire called the Boot, for which the canyon was named. Just below the Boot the canyon deepens over 1,000 feet in less than half a mile, between massive cliffs. With the exception of a few scattered grassy meadows, the greater part of Boot Canyon is wooded. The vegetation throughout the drainage includes a mixture of oak-juniper-piñon woodland and conifer forest, with the former predominant in most areas. Boot Canyon also shelters the only native stand of Arizona cypress in Texas.
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Alpine Avalanche, September 14, 1951. A. Michael Powell, "Vegetation of Trans-Pecos Texas," in New Mexico Geological Society Guidebook (Socorro, New Mexico: New Mexico Geological Society, 1980).
The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this entry.
Anonymous,
“Boot Canyon,”
Handbook of Texas Online,
accessed March 28, 2023,
https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/boot-canyon.
Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
TID:
RKB08
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Original Publication Date:
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1952
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Most Recent Revision Date:
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November 1, 1994
