Enchanted Rock State Natural Area is a very beautiful place to camp and explore. The Rock is a huge, pink granite exfoliation dome. It is one of the largest batholiths (underground rock formation uncovered by erosion) in the United States.
Tonkawa Indians believed ghost fires flickered at the top, and they heard weird creaking and groaning, which geologists now say resulted from the rock's heating by day and contracting in the cool night. We didn't hear any creaking - but I'm sure that is because although the rock heated plenty during the day, it didn't cool much the night we were there - it was pretty hot!
Ascending the Rock. The upper right photo shows an idea of how big this thing is - 425 feet above ground. The dots at the top of the rock are people. It is quite a climb...steep, hot, and killer on the thighs...but well worth the view. Of course I had a husband that is very fit and had no trouble. I also trailed a few children who have enough energy to power our car. Thankfully Abagail was kind enough to lag behind with the pregnant mom who was struggling to make the climb. I think she enjoyed the rare one-on-one time. The rest of the family took breaks to let us catch up...so nice of them. :)
Some of the breaks we took on the way up. It was crazy. We saw some people who were very obviously out of shape, carrying no water, with flip flops on and no protection from the sun. I sure hope they made it...cause I barely did. Of course they probably took a much more leisurely pace than my front pack set.
At the top of Enchanted Rock. We took some time on top to climb around and get a snack. We took lots of water for refills, which was good since everyone was out by the time we reached the top.
Heading back down. It was sooooooo much easier to go down. The kids got going a bit fast as they literally bounded down the rock - I was a bit nervous, imagining them tripping and tumbling in a terrible fall. Allen and I had to keep slowing them down.
We stopped on a crop of rocks on the way down. The kids climbed and jumped and ran all over the place. They wanted me to take some "action shots". Simon made a bridge over a gap, then got stuck. Thankfully, Gabriel came to his rescue.
One last stop on the way down. This rock was huge - I'm taking zoomed up photos from the ground. The other side was a steep drop-off. Another nail-biter. Gabriel was wonderful helping everyone up and across the gap. He took hats, water bottles, backpacks...anything that might make the other kids unbalanced or nervous. It's nice to have such a good big brother.
Back at camp Oliver disappeared for a bit. He came back with a huge smile, swinging the camera, and said he had been taking "his" pictures. This last collage is a sample of his work. He actually got some nice scenery photos - and I love the self-portraits!
We had a great time camping! Next time we will plan to return when we have more time to spend - and possibly when it is not so hot (or at least when mom isn't pregnant and so affected by the heat).
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