Enchanted Rock

We played hookie from work and school this past Wednesday to take a 2 hour road trip to Enchanted Rock, a bit north of Fredericksburg, TX. The Rock is a huge, pink granite exfoliation dome, that rises 425 feet above ground, 1825 feet above sea level, and covers 640 acres. It is one of the largest batholiths (underground rock formation uncovered by erosion) in the United States. The weather was wonderful 70 degrees and sunny, but very windy especially at the top of the rock.Elizabeth is a natural billy goat. I don't think she stopped running or climbing all day. Ava was a bit more timid, but walked all day.

Even Casey tried his hand at bouldering, but I was afraid he was going to crack his head on a rock. So while he walked the entire trip to the top, he did have to hold onto my hand most of the time.

What is a hiking trip without a little bit of adventure? Enchanted rock also has a 1000 ft long cave. Probably not the smartest idea with three small children and one flashlight, but what the heck. Plus, I would never pass up the opportunity to explore a cave.

"In a cavern, in a canyon, Excavating for a mine."

The kids did really well. The girls listened to all our directions, and we were easily able to help maneuver them through the cave. They weren't scared of the dark and there was minimal whining out of Ava. Casey was a bit more squirmy and kept wanting to grab the flashlight, but he was a real trooper. We covered most of the cave, but did take an alternate exit before the official end. The last part was going to be pretty tricky with the kids. Plus, we had already been under ground for an hour and the kids thought it was time for a snack break. So, we emerged back into daylight with everyone intact.

In fact the only bad things that happened all day were that Casey lost his shoe in the cave,

and a tree branch fell Ava's head while we were eating lunch.