Enchanted Rock

When it comes to outdoor adventure in the sprawling mass that is Central/East Texas, hill country and ATX stand head and shoulders above all. Enchanted rock and Reimer's are the climbing destinations for fall through spring adventures, and we got a double visit off this spring!

Apr. 1, 2023: Enchanted Rock (Again)

Just weeks after the last trip, Josh and I made our return seeking a sense of adventure in the rugged backhills of ERock. We tackled the offwidth Dan's crack, which scared the hell out of me to lead because there was no place to put protection from the time you got into the main crack until the very top. The likelihood of falling was very low because your entire body was wedged into the crack, but it's still quite spooky. If you were to slip, I envisioned sliding down into the narrowing bottom of it until you're fully stuck and something like 127 Hours ensures. Fortunately, Josh and I both got through it without issue other than a lot of uncomfortable and painful abrasion of skin on rock. Then we did my first multipitch climb on sport, followed by my first multipitch trad climb, both as 3-pitch ascents up the tallest part of E-Rock- the shield on the backside, which rises about 200 feet of slabby, careful climbing from base until you emerge at the summit with hikers from the other side staring at you and all your strange gear.

I have a lot less pictures and a lot less to say about this weekend because I left my camera (gasp) in the car and focused on climbing and embracing the adventure. It was great to practice skills including rappelling, multipitch climbing, rope management, trad gear placement, and slab climbing.

Crack climbing comes in all shapes and sizes.

Mar. 12, 2023: Enchanted Rock

Enchanted rock is a geological oddity; specifically a batholith, a giant dome made of pink granite and rising above hill country. It looks alien, enough so that when the area's best climbers wrote a guidebook for it in the 90's they called it the Dome Driver's Manual, patterned creatively after The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and packed with the same absurdist humor that is apparently shared by British satirists and central Texas rock climbers. It is a beautiful spot to hike, watch wildlife, and of course to climb. I hadn't been in almost 5 years so I was ecstatic to finally revisit the dome.

The key thing about ERock is that there's relatively few bolts. When we sport climb in the way I usually do, protection is achieved by hauling the rope up on your waist and clipping it into bolts that are drilled into the wall. With no bolts, you climb in a way closer to how early climbers did it, and how many people in pristine areas still do today- trad(itional) climbing. In trad, you have to take devices with you to create your own protection points. Either active devices such as spring-loaded cams, or passive devices such as metal nuts or knotted slings, are placed in holes or cracks and then clipped to. What this rant really means is you need people with experience and equipment to trad climb, and luckily Martin, Josh, and Rydell all had both.

Dome views.

Baby cactus, vivid cardinal, and angry vulture.

Evidence of prehistoric climbers (or at least pre-internet). And look at that beautiful pink granite!

Most of the day was spent chasing areas where the trad leaders could set up ropes for the rest of us to climb on. Favorite climbs from the day were Jack Knife, Cave Crack, and Sweat. Cave crack was especially cool to me- Rydell and I reached it by scrambling, including chimneying up between two walls and then squeezing through a hole before finding the eponymous cave. Wedged deep between two massive parts of the dome, the slabby crack climbs up inside the cave for 60 feet or so and then continues out onto the face of the dome, where you can see hikers below and the whole park spread out before you. By the end, it slopes down enough that you can walk up to the final tree.

Views in and around cave crack area.

Who doesn't love a good hike laden down with 70 meters of rope?

Abby, Sean, and Josh getting some action shots in.

Josh and I took our own bushwacking adventure at the end of the day in search of the iconic curving crack that forms Sweat 5.6, and after getting lost a few times and getting more than a few cactus spines stuck in my foot, hand, and leg, we found it. Josh climbed it first and then offered me the chance to lead on his gear and place my own- my first trad climbing lead! I felt very safe in the slabby and secure crack, since it was the perfect width for fist and foot jamming for me. Erock definitely has an adventurous feel to it that appeals to me, and I hope to go back very soon for more.

Undertaking my first trad lead ever! The friendly stranger who photographed me took some creative liberties with the wall angle for the center shot, but it's too good to not include. Come on, look at the clouds, the pose, the vultures and tell me that's not awesome.

Couldn't ask for a better group. Thanks Josh, Ben, Martin, Kirsten, Rydell, Sean, Brennan, Kai, Yisha, Monica, Abby, and Vic!

Mar. 11, 2023: Return to Reimer's

What better way to celebrate turning 25 than doing it in Austin with 15 of my friends enjoying nature together? We left Friday night from Houston, camping at Emma Long Metro Park in Austin, where temps were perfect for hammocking. I took in the last of my birthday by the fire and taking some moon photos that you can see over at astrophotography.

Getting up the next morning, I watched a beautiful osprey circle our site before we took off to Reimer's. At the ranch, we set up first on Zoey's wall, where Rydell and I got some easy soloing in on the mighty 15-20 foot wall. It got hot quick, up to 88 by lunchtime so we took an extended swimming break before spending the rest of the day until sunset at Dr. Suess wall. This wall has a great assortment of climbs from 5.8 to 5.12a, and everyone had a good time working on some projects. I figured out all the moves to Yertle the Turtle 5.12a, a longtime goal climb of mine. It's definitely getting a return visit soon to try and piece it all together.

We ended the day with a drive out to Oxford ranch to camp and enjoy the stars. Again, refer to astrophotography for more pictures and info, including an exciting and totally real ghost story!