Enchanted Rock

Geological exfoliation of granite at Enchanted Rock State Natural Area

The prominent granite dome is visible for many miles in the surrounding basin of the Llano Uplift. The weathered dome, standing above the surrounding plain, is known to geologists as a monadnock. The rock is actually the visible above-ground part of a segmented ridge, the surface expression of a large igneous batholith, called the Town Mountain Granite[8] of middle Precambrian (1,082 ± 6 million years ago)[9] material that intruded into earlier metamorphic schist, called the Packsaddle Schist.[8] The intrusive granite of the rock mass, or pluton, was exposed by extensive erosion of the surrounding sedimentary rock, primarily the Cretaceous Edwards limestone, which is exposed a few miles to the south of Enchanted Rock.[8]

Park activities include caving,[10] hiking, primitive backpack camping, rock climbing and picnicking. The Summit Trail[11] is the most popular hiking path.

The Granite Gripper is an annual rock climbing competition that acts as a fundraiser for park conservation through the Friends of Enchanted Rock.[12] Emphasis is placed on activity safety and ecological preservation. Visitors are asked to keep human incursion at a minimum by not disturbing plants, animals, or artifacts.[13] Federal and state statutes, regulations, and rules governing archeological and historic sites apply.[14] The state Game Warden as a commissioned peace officer is authorized to inspect natural resources and take any necessary action for the preservation of the resources.[15] As of March 1, 2016, dogs are not allowed on the summit trail anymore.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department partners with Friends of Enchanted Rock,[16] a volunteer-based nonprofit organization that works for the improvement and preservation of Enchanted Rock State Natural Area. Scheduled Summit Trail tours are the third Saturday of the month starting April, May, September, October, November, and December. Private tours are available for groups at other times.

Sedum growing on top of Enchanted Rock near a vernal pool.

More than 500 species of plants,[17] from four chief plant communities — open oak woodland, mesquite grassland, floodplain, and granite rock community — inhabit the rock. Vernal pools, ecologically threatened depressions of flora and fauna adapted to harsh environments, contain fragile invertebrate fairy shrimp. Other wildlife includes bats, ringtails, squirrels, and foxes. A wide variety of lizards, including the Texas horned lizard, also makes the Enchanted Rock area their home.

Designated a key bird watching site,[18] bird enthusiasts can observe many species including wild turkey, greater roadrunner, golden-fronted woodpecker, Woodhouse's scrub jay, canyon towhee, rufous-crowned sparrow, black-throated sparrow, lesser goldfinch, common poorwill, chuck-will's-widow, black-chinned hummingbird, vermilion flycatcher, scissor-tailed flycatcher, Bell's vireo, yellow-throated vireo, blue grosbeak, painted bunting, orchard oriole, vesper sparrow, fox sparrow, Harris's sparrow, and lark sparrow.

Enchanted Rock near Fredericksburg by Hermann Lungkwitz, 1864, oil on canvas

View of Little Rock

View of Enchanted Rock from base camp

Archaeological evidence indicates human visitation at the rock going back at least 11,000 years.

According to the book [22] The Enchanted Rock published in 1999 by Ira Kennedy [23][24]

These hunter-gatherers had flint-tipped spears, fire, and stories. With these resources, some 12,000 years ago, the first Texans became the wellspring of Plains Indian culture. On the basis of archaeological evidence, human habitation at Enchanted Rock can be traced back at least 10,000 years. Paleo-Indian projectile points, or arrowheads, 11–12,000 years old, have been found in the area upstream and downstream from the rock. The oldest authenticated projectile point found within the present-day park is a Plainview point type, dating back 10,000 years.

The rock has been the subject of numerous geological surveys and paintings.

View from the summit of Enchanted Rock

Folklore of local Tonkawa, Apache and Comanche tribes ascribes magical and spiritual powers to the rock (hence the name Enchanted Rock). While attempting to hide from Anglo settlers in the area, the natives would hide on the top two tiers of the rock, where they were invisible from the ground below. The first European to visit the area was probably Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca in 1536. The Tonkawa, who inhabited the area in the 16th century, believed that ghost fires flickered at the top of the dome. In particular, they heard unexplained creaking and groaning, which geologists attribute to night-time contraction of the rock after being heated by the sun during the day. The name "Enchanted Rock" derives from Spanish and Anglo-Texan interpretations of such legends and related folklore; the name "Crying Rock" has also been given to the formation.

A plaque formerly embedded in Enchanted Rock near the top, but now removed to a kiosk below, reads:[27]

From its summit in 1841, Captain John C. Hays, while surrounded by Comanche Indians who cut him off from his ranging company repulsed the whole band and inflicted upon them such heavy losses that they fled.

— Marked by the State of Texas 1936

Other legends [28] [29] associated with Enchanted Rock are:

• Named "Spirit Song Rock" for native legends
• Revered by native tribes as a holy portal to other worlds
• Anyone spending the night on the rock becomes invisible
• Spanish priest fled to the rock pursued by native tribes, disappeared, and returned to tell a mystic tale of falling into a cavern and being swallowed by the rock, encountering many spirits in the tunnels, eventually to be spit out two days later
• Haunted by spirits of warriors of a now-extinct Native American tribe who were slaughtered at Enchanted Rock by a rival tribe
• Haunted by a Native American princess who threw herself off the rock after witnessing the slaughter of her people
• Alleged sacrifices at the rock by both Comanche and Tonkawa tribes
• Believed to be a lost silver mine, or the lost El Dorado gold
• Bad fortune and death will befall anyone who climbs the rock with bad intent
• Footprint indentations on the rock of Native American chief who sacrificed his daughter, condemned to walk Enchanted Rock forever
• Woman's screams at night are of a white woman who took refuge on Enchanted Rock after escaping a kidnapping by Native Americans
• Spanish soldier Don Jesús Navarro's Enchanted Rock rescue of native maiden Rosa, daughter of Chief Tehuan, after her kidnap by Comanches intent on sacrificing her on the rock

Enchanted Rock panorama

Full-width Enchanted Rock panorama

 National Register of Historic Places portal  Texas portal

• Dobie, J Frank; Estill, Julia (1995). "The Enchanted Rock in Llano County". Legends of Texas: Volume II: Pirates' Gold and Other Tales. Pelican Publishing. pp. 78–82. ISBN 978-1-56554-073-6.
• Allred, Lance (2009). Enchanted Rock: A Natural and Human History. University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-71963-7.
• Moore, Stephen L (2007). "Enchanted Rock and Bird's Fort". Savage Frontier: 1840–1841: Rangers, Riflemen, and Indian Wars in Texas. University of North Texas Press. ISBN 978-1-57441-228-4.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Enchanted Rock.

• Enchanted Rock State Natural Area
• Texas Parks official web page
• Enchanted Rock from the Handbook of Texas Online
• E-Rock: Virtual Trip to Enchanted Rock
• Technical rock climbing at Enchanted Rock
• Home movie of Enchanted Rock, The Steve Gomez Collection, no. 1 - Hiking Enchanted Rock, Texas Archive of the Moving Image