An Adventure on the Enchanted Rock

An Adventurous Experience

Gorgeous sunsets. Fun hikes. Hilly terrain. Welcome to the Hill Country, the home of the Enchanted Rock. On Sunday, November 27, the last day of Thanksgiving Break, my family and I set out on an adventure to summit the great Enchanted Rock!

Thanksgiving Break was fun, but our family felt it needed a touch of some outdoor, natural, adventurous fun. And that’s why, on November 27, at 2:30 PM, my family and I set out for the Enchanted Rock! The Enchanted Rock is a pink granite mountain located in the Llano Uplift of Texas (17 miles north of Fredericksburg, TX, and 24 miles south of Llano, TX).

Sounds exciting right? For me at that time, YES and NO! Why? Well, it’s going to be fun climbing up the Enchanted Rock and everything, but you have to go through a 1-hour 30-minute car drive! It may sound not as bad, but sometimes car drives for me are very tedious.

We had finally arrived at the state park! Boy, didn’t it feel great to stretch my legs! My father picked up some Park maps which he gave to each family member. We then drove down to the famous SUMMIT TRAIL. I quickly hopped out of the car, pulling my cousin brother out with me. As we made our way to the trail, I teased him about beating him to the top of the rock. He laughed, and we immediately set off after each other, parents and sister trailing behind us.

Most of the time, I was ahead of the whole group, partially because I wanted to beat my brother, and somewhat because the others kept on stopping for short breaks to see the hill country views around them (My thought on views would be to observe the Hill Country on the summit of the Enchanted Rock for best sights).

To be honest, the rock formations along the trail were pretty cool, and a bit funny. One of my favorites was what I named “The Old Boot”. It actually looks like one, and when you think about it, it kind of seems a bit odd how weathering and erosion can form such weird-looking rock formations! I even cooked up a little story about how a giant ruled the rock, but when it got extinct, all it left behind was an old boot!

We quickly got far up. At one point, I told my father that the summit was right ahead. Turns out… it was thrice the distance I predicted. At that point, I could say that even I was tired. We all sat down to “look” at the scenic views, but instead I was really just pondering about the sunset. One of the reasons that our family loved the Enchanted Rock was because of the gorgeous summit sunset view, and its lovely colors.

After a few silent minutes, we all got up and resumed the hike. I, as usual, climbed ahead, and in what was actually a few minutes, but felt like a few eternities, I summited the Enchanted Rock.

It all felt like a mission, where professionals climb mountains to attain something. And I, definitely not a professional, had attained a victory over my brother, and a first glimpse of the sunset. It was around 5 – 5:30 PM. I didn’t notice time flying by, but when I zoned back into the real world, I realized that my family hadn’t gotten up till where I was. When I looked down from the “edge” of the rock, I saw 5 teeny-tinny people (my family) about 50 feet away from where I was. And within 5 minutes, came my real-sized family! We found a spot to sit, and then eagerly waited for the full-fledged sunset to appear.

And, you know what? All the work and patience was worth it! The sunset we got to see was mind-blowing!

Like they say “Every sunset brings a new dawn”, and for our family to get a new dawn, we’d have to get down from the rock, and go home! It was time to say goodbye to the Enchanted Rock. We took a last opportunity to snag some beautiful photos along the way.

The trek going down was far easier and shorter in time than the trek going upward. But there is one thing you should take note of while trekking down the Enchanted Rock at night time, and that is there will be unpredicted twists and turns from which you won’t be able to decipher which way to go. We almost got trapped, but luckily I remembered the way out. We got into our car, and headed home after an adventurous day.

My experience at the Enchanted Rock was amazing, with funny old boots, gorgeous sunsets, and family fun.

I also learned quite a lot from this experience, such as how things may seem boring, but always have a surprise at the end, how sunsets can enchant life, how to never give up and stay determined, and to always watch out for yourself when you’re surrounded by the wilderness. I also enjoyed this experience a lot, and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did experiencing and writing it. If you liked this post please leave a like, and do share your comments/thoughts/feedback. For more, please subscribe to my blog!

-Kartik Lakhwani

(PS: If you go to the Enchanted Rock and see an “Old Boot” along the SUMMIT TRAIL, comment down below!!!)