Enchanted Rock State Natural Area

It's been over a year since the pandemic hit the United States and everything went into lockdown. Aside from the road trip out to West Texas and a few weekend camping trips, we've been cooped up in our apartment this whole time. Looking for a change of scenery and to enjoy some beautiful springtime weather and wildflowers, we booked a week-long stay at an Airbnb in Fredericksburg around the first weekend of April. The plan was to work and relax in the little rental home, then strike out for a couple of state parks in the Hill Country.

It was a Thursday afternoon when we took Highway 71 out to Llano to pick up some barbecue before heading to Fredericksburg. We timed this drive perfectly for the springtime, because the Hill Country was blushing with dense patches of bluebonnets all the way out. Usually we go by Cooper's in Llano (probably my favorite barbecue spot in the state), but this time we did something different. Back in November when we stayed at the Gage Hotel in Marathon, we met a gentleman from the Llano area who said that Inman's BBQ, right across the street from Cooper's, was actually the better barbecue joint in town. Pretty tall words that lingered with us, and we just had to find out if he was right. Unfortunately we weren't very impressed with Inman's. Not to disparage their work, but the food was fine. But with some barbecue in tow, we headed on down to Fredericksburg (getting caught behind a huge truck hauling a tank along the way). We got there around 5:00 pm.

Checking into our Airbnb was super easy. It was located about a mile north of the historic downtown district in Fredericksburg. It was a private 1-bedroom, 1.5-bathroom home with a full kitchen and a very comfortable living room in a separate structure on the back of the host family's lot. The place was cute, modern, and well thought-out. The hosts were very kind as well, recommending a Southern-inspired restaurant called Granite House Lounge that we wound up getting carryout from for dinner. We had our dinner at home (shrimp and grits for Tessa, a hot chicken sandwich for me), watched a movie and BattleBots from the comfort of some cushy recliners, and called it an early evening. We had big plans for the following morning to get up and head out to Enchanted Rock before sunrise.

Enchanted Rock State Natural Area

Enchanted Rock is a huge mound of pink granite that protrudes up from the heart of the Texas Hill Country. It's a short drive off of Highway 16, about halfway between Fredericksburg and Llano. Coincidentally, this stretch of highway is one of my favorite drives in the state.

From what I can gather, humans have been coming to Enchanted Rock for just short of forever. There is archaeological evidence that humans have visited the place as far back as 12,000 years! Bedrock mortars can be found in the granite where they would prepare food. Spear- and arrowheads have been found around the creeks that are thousands of years old.

With history going back that far for such a striking geological feature, it's no surprise that the area is also steeped in legend and folklore. Tonkawa, Apache, and Comanche tribes that occupied the area ascribed magical and spiritual powers to the rock. The Tonkawa in particular believed that ghost fires flickered at the top of the dome and heard groaning and creaking coming from the rock. Some thought that people who spent the night on the rock became invisible. Other legends say the rock is haunted by various spirits of those who perished there.

The massive rock is the exposed portion of a huge batholith that's approximately a billion years old, formed when magma consolidated into layers, cooled, and crystallized into the pink granite you see today. The portion of the rock that is found above the earth's surface was revealed and shaped through erosion, freezing, and thawing. It's the largest of several similar geological features in the area, like Spy Rock near the town of Mason, or Granite Mountain in Marble Falls, which is where the pink granite came from that was hauled into Austin and used to build the Texas State Capitol.

Starting in the 1830's, the Enchanted Rock area traded hands between a series of private owners (including one of the signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence). In 1970 it was declared a National Natural Landmark, and in 1978, at the behest of Lady Bird Johnson, it was acquired by The Nature Conservancy and deeded to the State of Texas. Facilities were added and in 1984 it was opened by the state as Enchanted Rock State Natural Area.

The main granite mountain features heavily in park activities, like hiking, climbing, nature gazing, and cave exploring, but there are lots of other trails and more nature to explore beyond the rock itself. There are also campsites if that's your thing. We haven't camped there yet, but the park is designated as an IDA Dark Sky Park, so I'm sure the stargazing is incredible.

Summit Trail Hike

We had an 8:30 am arrival time reserved, and we got to the park pretty much on the dot. After checking in and parking we headed straight for the Summit Trail. This hike is the most popular one in the park, a trail from the entrance parking lot that quickly becomes an interpretive scramble up 400 feet to the top of the larger granite dome.

We took a nice, slow pace hiking up. Even though the temperature was in the 50s, we were still in the direct sun. But pausing wasn't a chore, it seemed like every 10 to 20 steps the views around us just expanded further and wider. There were a good number of other hikers -- families, couples, even a church group. But with no formal trail on the smooth, pink stone, it was pretty easy to keep space between ourselves and others.

Even at a deliberate and gentle pace, it didn't take us more than 20 minutes to make it to the top of Enchanted Rock. If you have the chance and ability to make that hike at least once in your life, I highly recommend it. When you're at the top, all of the smooth, pink rock underfoot makes it feel like you're walking on the surface of some strange planet, but the beauty of the lush Texas Hill Country spans all around and beneath you. They say when you lay down and put your ear to the stone you can hear the rock creaking as it expands and contracts as it's heated by the sun and cools off in the evening. We didn't get the chance to test that out.

Pictures won't do it justice, this place is just gorgeous.

We wandered the top of the rock for probably 15 minutes. Tessa found some dips and recesses in the stone where delicate little succulent plants were growing. Kids were going into and out of a cave. Then we started our descent. We took a bit more of a scenic, interpretive route down, meandering around Echo Canyon Trail, which winds between Enchanted Rock and Little Rock. We stopped along the way to take pictures, and then headed back to our car and departed.

Willow City Loop

Before heading back into Fredericksburg, we took a quick side trip to drive along the Willow City Loop. Also found off of Highway 16, this little two-lane Ranch Road is a picturesque 13-mile hot spot for springtime wildflowers. It's a gorgeous country drive through cliffs, pastures, and creeks, complete with loose livestock. I highly recommend it if you're in the area when the bluebonnets are blooming!

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for the second part of this trip!