Hill Country 2: hills and country

The wine tasting I mentioned really was just happy coincidence. Conrad and I did want to get out to see the Hill Country countryside itself, in fact. Given some gorgeous, pleasantly warm weather, we set out on the Saturday morning to the Enchanted Rock State Natural Area. Popular place. The parking lot had almost reached its limit an hour after we got there, and there were streams of people hiking up the rock. Still, we found space to ourselves and a nice sense of being alone.

Enchanted Rock is a pink granite dome. Well, there are better, geologically-correct explanations, but that's pretty much it: a bald dome of rock and some smaller granite formations.


We set out hiking.





In fact, we weren't well prepared for a hike. No sunscreen (that's why I'm all zipped up and capped), no proper footwear. We probably could have reached the summit, but we thought it wiser to take a different direction.

As it turns out, there were plenty of interesting rock formations to admire, especially against the stunning blue sky; our path was partly guided by a desire to get closer to some of them.







Also noteworthy was the flora: fairy ferns, prickly pears, and more.





A moment or two to rest and stretch out some,and then it was the hike back down to the shelter of the car and a drive to Llano for lunch.