Enchanted Rock trip

About a month ago I did an overnight camping trip at Enchanted Rock, which is a group of granite domes (old lava bubbles) due west of Austin. The area is not unlike Quartz Mountain, albeit 1/4 to 1/3 the size. I went with a friend who has not been camping in a good long while, and never in this part of the US at all, so I was playing the role of guide somewhat. He took off work during the week so that we could avoid the weekend crowds, which are thick in the spring and fall as the weather is quite nice around those times. The park was nearly deserted and we got a prime camping spot right next to the south rock.

Once we had hauled our gear the 75 yards or so to the campsite, we summited the southernmost rock, then came back and set up camp. On to the main rock - the wind had to have been blowing 50mph up there, we couldn't converse while standing in it and had to get into the lee of trees, boulders, or the bulk of the rock itself in order to hear each other. The larger two domes are a workout to summit; I was exhausted by the time we reached the entrance to the talus fissure (a long, narrow cave on the back of the main rock, with passages so small that most adults won't fit), and decided that soloing it twice on previous trips was a good reason to opt out this time. My friend, who was in better shape than I and hardly winded after summiting two rocks, decided to solo it and I would try to meet up with him at one of the exits.

Working downhill on the top of the fissure is almost as much work as moving through inside it, albeit not nearly as claustrophobic. The cave is caused by the lava dome cracking down one of its flanks at some point long ago, and boulders and slabs of rock piling up in the crack, leaving a small convoluted tunnel about 300 feet long. My friend made it through with good speed, and we proceeded to try to find a way down the backside of the rock to the north, continuing to move along the line of the fissure - harder than what I did on the previous trip, when we went back up a ways and then south.

On the way back as it's nearing sundown, a pack of coyotes is gathering nearby for their evening out. This is my friend's first time to ever hear them; I play call-and-response with the coyotes before apparently mortally offending them (they went silent after the third exchange). As dusk descends, we play 'spot the deer' on the way back to camp.

There being a burn ban in effect, stories are told around the florescent lantern until bedtime. The waning crescent has long since set, and wow I can see star colors out here... I originally figured I had found Mars when I first saw Arcturus. And a small meteor, and a smudge of a distant galaxy easily visible that I'd never seen before. The inside of my tent is illuminated by starlight! The wind has calmed down now.

Coyotes sing me into dreams, and I hear them once more later on. There's an owl off in the distance. I can hear the hesitant footsteps of deer through our campsite. Later, the wind flows down off the rock but skips over the camp, rustling my tent only once, even though I can hear it susurrating through the trees for at least half an hour. It calms again.

I keep waking up (because of some fool mockingbird that sings for half the night) and keep finding it pleasantly cooler every time and still reassuringly dark, and keep on going back to sleep.

At breakfast, a bold squirrel who has obviously been fed by people before begins to investigate our picnic table. He comes back later and moves up right behind my chair, then alongside it, checking out the bottle of milk I'd set on the ground. As we're about to leave for the morning hike, my friend asks me if I know what kind of bird has a blue head, yellow back, and red breast. I wonder if he is not a little dehydrated before I spot one of these: a male Painted Bunting.

I had no idea anything that colourful existed in Texas!

We start the hike along the creek bed, dry now in the drought. But wait, there's a big puddle, not stagnant, with tiny fish in it! And more downstream... the creek is 2/3 dry, 1/3 puddles connected with tiny trickles that grow larger the further downstream we get. I take off my socks and shoes, and give my feet long scritchies in the fine gravel under cold water. Feels wonderful after going to bed footsore the night before.

We spot some frogs, a crayfish, and a butterfly that I still have not been able to ID. It's shaped like a hairstreak, complete with tiny tails, only larger, solid black, with a few bright red spots, and a metallic blue body + patches of same colour on the upper surfaces of the wings. Half the size of a swallowtail. He's so intent on drinking from the damp sand that I catch him easily between my fingers, something my brother and I used to practice. A quick look and then I let him fly off.

The creek deepens into a swamp, so we turn uphill towards the rocks. I have never been on the third-highest rock, so we strike out in that direction. During one of the several rest breaks that I've been initiating, movement catches my eye and I turn towards a tall jumble of rocks not 30-40' away to see a ringtail for the first time! Someone else's photo, again. She moved just like a cat, and her face looked a little more cat or fox-like than in the picture. She went along the outside of the rocks for about 5 seconds, then down into them, where her den probably is. No idea why she was out during the day, but she didn't seem to act strangely otherwise.

We start towards the top of this rock, giving the ringtail's den a wide berth, and discover several overhang shelters and a short tunnel through near the top of the rock. Unlike the talus fissure, there's no trash in this one, so I can only guess that most people don't know about it. Probably helps that there is no marked trail to the summit, such as it is, on this rock.

We have to be out by two, so it's time to head back. I tend to pack light - we didn't do any cooking, just ate on things we'd cooked or bought - so teardown is relatively quick. I figure we did at least 5 miles both days, and a lot of that was up/down hill. Next time I go I want to bring a telescope.