rock climbing - MOJO37

Enchanted Rock

My big adventure this weekend takes me and some buddies to Enchanted Rock (right past Austin) to do some hiking but it ended up being more rock climbing then hiking. I hadn’t ever really being hiking before, maybe a few times in Panama when I was wandering around the ranch but I didn’t do much rock climbing since I didn’t have a clue where I was or how to get help if I wandered off by myself. I had a blast but I was really surprised how windy it was when we made it to the top of Enchanted Rock.

I was curious about how this huge rock got its name so I looked it up on Wikipedia. Wiki says that there is evidence that humans have been wandering around the Enchanted Rock as far back as 11,000 years. That number is surreal to me, I can’t even imagine that far back; I wonder how much that area has changed since then?

If you take away the concrete parking lots the whole area looked like those old westerns I used to watch as a kid. I kept expecting a good old-fashioned cowboy and Indian shot-off behind the boulders. It looked like the perfect place to send some smoke signals. The whole experience was amazing, being able to get away from the city and almost step back in town.

Wikipedia goes on to describe some of the folklore of local Native American tribes describing magical and spiritual powers to the rock (hence the name ‘Enchanted Rock’). While attempting to hide from Anglo settlers in the area, the Natives would hide on the top two tiers of the rock and, since they were unable to be seen from the ground below, they believed the rock made them invisible. The first European to visit the area was probably Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca in 1536. The Tonkawa, who inhabited the area in the 16th century, believed that ghost fires flickered at the top of the dome. In particular they heard unexplained creaking and groaning, which geologists attribute to the rock’s night-time contraction after being heated by the sun during the day. The name “Enchanted Rock” derives from Spanish and Anglo-Texan interpretations of such legends and related folklore. (quoted from Wikipedia.com)