February 17, 2008 - Sunday
We finally made it to Fredericksburg after about a two hour drive. We had plans to stop in town
but first we wanted to go up to see Enchanted Rock. Well, after that hike there wasn't much energy
left for anything else. As you can see, I had to make several stops along the way. I did learn all
about the Enchanted Rock though.
"The Tonkawa Indians believed ghost fires flickered at the top, and they heard weird creaking
and groaning, which geologists now say resulted from the rock's heating by day and contracting
in the cool night. A conquistador captured by the Tonkawa described how he escaped by losing
himself in the rock area, giving rise to an Indian legend of a "pale man swallowed by a rock and
reborn as one of their own." The Indians believed he wove enchantments on the area, but he
explained that the rock wove the spells. "When I was swallowed by the rock, I joined the many
spirits who enchant this place." The first well-documented explorations of this area did not begin
until 1723 when the Spanish intensified their efforts to colonize Texas. During the mid-1700s,
the Spaniards made several trips to the north and northwest of San Antonio, establishing a
mission and presidio on the San Saba River and carrying out limited mining on Honey Creek
near the Llano River."
Well after that long climb up the rock, my human thinks the noises weren't a result from the rock's
heating by day and contracting in the cool night but the sound in your ear of the blood ruhing to one's
brain! :) A rough hike indeed but well worth the climb. Our next stop seems to be Luckenbauch.
After that, who knows where life will take us. -- Nick
If you want to learn about the Enchanted Rock, you can visit here:
Enchanted Rock
