Enchanted Rock State Natural Area

After we toured Fredericksburgh we decided to take a short side trip to see this state park before heading home.Driving through the picturesque countryside we saw a few of the original stone German farmhouses. And it was possible even to see that German influence on the names of the roads- many of them had the names of the first settlers like Weinstein, and another simply had the number eighteen- Achzehn.We soon saw the large rock off in the distance.The rock is a massive dome of granite, famed in Native American legend and said to be the site of human sacrifices. The dome is about 640 acres in area and about 1,825 feet high. It is a popular area for rock climbing and rappelling, or just plain hiking.

The sun was setting when we got there, so we thought maybe we would put off hiking the rock for another time. As we drove out of the park, John thought he could save us some time by not returning to Fredericksburg and instead taking a road that would by-pass the town. That was a mistake. We ended up on a county road through private ranch land. It was narrow and winding, with signs warning us that it was an open range. We drove over many cattle guards on that road and passed a lot of cattle, a few of whom would wander nonchalantly across the road in front of our car. We also saw lots of deer, a few darted in front of our car. Darkness fell, and I saw the silhouette of a fox fly over the road in front of us and smelled a skunk. Hard to believe that earlier I had considered camping at Enchanted Rock!  We were down to a quarter of a tank of gas and had no confidence anymore as to where we were. I started to do some serious praying. Soon a truck passed us (the first vehicle we saw on that road), and then the houses we started seeing had lights in them. Previously whatever ranch buildings we had seen looked to be abandoned.. We came to a small town with signs pointing the direction to Fredericksburg. We returned to that town and, feeling a bit tired, took a motel for the night. Fortunately I had left our cat plenty of food and water!