Enchanted Rock State Natural Park

This past summer we were toying with the idea of going on a road trip to the Grand Canyon - and how lady luck shines on you when you least expect it! It would have been Horrendous (note the capital H) in the intense heat the region experienced. I digress, the reason I mention this is because a pit-stop would have been to the Enchanted Rock State Natural Area.......

It is an enormous pink rock (like to keep topical it being breast cancer awareness month) just outside Fredericksburg, Texas.  It's the largest pink granite monadnock in the US.  The climb is 425 feet and takes you to approximately 1825 feet above sea level.  It's not a hard hike but it's no jog either - alternatively there is a walk around the base of the rock - we're going to check that out later.

Do not be fooled by the calm exterior of C & D..... they were huffin' an' a puffin' like a goodun!!! Once at the top, there are a couple of little oasis type rock pools mit tadpoles, an array of cacti and other flora and fauna and the most spectacular views of Llano County....

Well worth a visit... take a picnic or camp (beware of the enormous ants though)!

There are lots of myths, legends and magical mysteries surrounding the rock:

• Named “Spirit Song Rock” for native legends
• Revered by native tribes as a holy portal to other worlds
• Anyone spending the night on the rock becomes invisible
• Spanish priest fled to the rock pursued by native tribes, disappeared, and returned to tell a mystic tale of falling into a cavern and being swallowed by the rock, encountering many spirits in the tunnels, eventually to be spit out two days later
• Haunted by spirits of warriors of a now-extinct native American tribe who were slaughtered at Enchanted Rock by a rival tribe
• Haunted by a native American princess who threw herself off the rock after witnessing the slaughter of her people
• Alleged sacrifices at the rock by both Comanche and Tonkawa tribes
• Believed to be a lost silver mine, or the lost El Dorado gold
• Bad fortune and death will befall anyone who climbs the rock with bad intent
• Footprint indentations on the rock of native American chief who sacrificed his daughter, condemned to walk Enchanted Rock forever
• Woman’s screams at night are of a white woman who took refuge on Enchanted Rock after escaping a kidnapping by native Americans
• Spanish soldier Don Jesús Navarro’s Enchanted Rock rescue of native maiden Rosa, daughter of Chief Tehuan, after her kidnap by Comanches intent on sacrificing her on the rock. 

Hmmmmmmmm.............