Enchanted Rock part 1 - John's climb to the summit

John before climbing to the summit of Enchanted Rock. Yes, the tiny black dots going up the side and on the top are people!

Enchanted Rock (ER) is a giant pink granite mountain about 17 miles north of Fredericksburg, TX. It's really unique and amazing. In fact it is the largest pink granite monadnock in the U.S. (Not everything is bigger in Texas, but this is :-))


 

There are actually two rocks. The one on the right on this sign is the bigger one. It's the one called Enchanted Rock. The one on the left is called "Little Rock."

That large pink mound towering over the cars is "Little Rock"! (The little red car, on the left is our Honda tow-car.)

ER has tent camping only, so we camped about 15 minutes away at a campground that had RV sites available with full hook ups, including sewer, which I was especially thankful for. I'll tell you why in the next post.

I had read that reservations were recommended for visiting ER, even just for hiking, especially on holidays and busy weekends. Since we were there over the Easter weekend and it was nice weather we reserved a spot on-line the night before. We're very thankful we did. We got the last spot for that morning. They were turning people away when we arrived but since we had reservations, we got in.

John, being a confident hiker was keen to hike to the top. I waited in the shade near where we parked our car.

At the bottom

 

Partway up looking back down

John said, "the climb was not nearly as hard as it looks. Parts of the path were roughly as difficult as climbing a somewhat uneven staircase. Most of it was just slanted rock. It wasn't at all slippery since it was a dry day and there wasn't any loose gravel to contend with. They warned us that it would take 30-45 minutes to climb but it only took me about 25 [each way]."

Other parts are much steeper and definitely called for ropes! John didn't hike on those parts.

While I waited for him I was delighted and intrigued to see a group of young people coming back to the parking lot carrying a large wooden cross between them. I told John about it after he got back. He said he was up there when they were and saw the crosses while they were set up. We were both really pleased and surprised by this creative way to celebrate Good Friday.

John said, "Although much of the rock was barren, any hollow collected water and dirt and made a little oasis...each one different and forming its own little ecology. Many of them were quite lovely."

Not surprisingly the view from the top was spectacular.

Stay tuned for more from our Enchanted Rock trip.