Surrounding peaks are El Capitan, Shumard, Bartlett, and Pine Top, all exceeding 8,000 feet. Mount Emory in the Chisos Mountains and Mount Locke in the Davis Mountains are 7,825 feet and 8,382 feet high, respectively. Uplands soils are mostly light reddish brown to brown clay loams, clays, and sands over reddish, loamy to clayey, calcareous, gypsic or saline subsoils. These include many areas of shallow soils and rocklands. Sizeable areas of deep sands exist.
Drainage is rapid in the mountains, slow in the basins, and absent in the bolsons.
The grass vegetation, especially on the higher mountain slopes, includes many southwestern and Rocky Mountain species not present elsewhere in Texas. Poisonous plants present considerable problems in this harsh environment. Under poor grazing management, range sites become more xeric, and perennial grassland vegetation gives way to desert shrub and annual forbs and grasses. Creosotebush and tarbush complexes now cover some 15 million acres of former desert grassland in the Trans-Pecos area. Tobosa draws, which once produced considerable forage, were invaded by burrograss and annuals as grazing pressure increased.