An Enchanted New Years | Enchanted Rock Pt. 2

If you missed the first part of this series go here.

On New Years Eve I slept in and Chris got up early to take sunrise photos. Once up and breakfast was eaten, we headed off for the eastern side of the loop around the rocks. It was a gorgeously clear day again, perfect really.

Initially we were going to completely go all the way to the east on the loop but we came to the junction of the Turkey Pass trail and thought it looked good, a cut through up to another trail and we could catch the eastern loop up there. We passed this beautiful pond on our way through.

And just to the right of the pond was Turkey Peak.

The south face of Enchanted Rock. In the distance we saw other hikers descending from the rock, in a steep spot. The man in the group was cautiously inching his way down while the woman had resorted to scooting down. The day before we’d been in a similar situation and I’d debated scooting, finally opting not to. Once down on the ground I looked back up, incredulous that we’d come down that slope!

The Turkey Pass trail was quiet, passing one couple and then I think we met up with the steep slope couple towards the top of the trail. This area was definitely not where the main action was going on and would be a great place to explore and enjoy some peace and quiet in the park.

This oak and little rock pool area was beautiful. A small spring was flowing through here. If I’d of had a book and was not going to be hiking I might have spend a few hours perched under the tree.

I’m always surprised to see clear running streams/springs in Texas, which I’m not sure why I am surprised. Perhaps because in Florida I was not accustomed to seeing springs unless we were in far northern Florida.

We walked to the far northern boundary of the park on the loop, then cutting south through Moss Lake primitive camp and then to the Echo Canyon trail. Somehow we ended up off trail and found ourselves making our own trail—which wasn’t terribly bad because others were coming up the way we’d decided to go down.

It was fun going down this way, hopping over rocks.

Back at camp for lunch we opted for a leisurely afternoon of napping. We’d been planning on staying out for sunset to get some shots for that and we left camp with a couple hours of sun left to scout out a place to go. Unfortunately we left just about the time we both decided to get headaches. I’d popped some medicine but Chris hadn’t and his headache become consistently worse as we hiked on.

We did manage to find some beautiful views by taking a trail that was probably not a trail, because it dead ended and we ended up rock hopping and slab walking.

This beautiful slab was begging for its photo to be taken. Chris found a set of stairs leading up to the top where I ended up laying for awhile. Chris needed to lay too but he opted for down in the shade beneath the slab. An animal must have also found it to be a nice spot because scat was at the top too.

Our sunset expedition was called off when Chris’ headache worsened. Instead we hastened back for camp where he hit the tent and was miserable for a few hours before medicine kicked in. I made dinner for myself and sat outside reading by lamplight. I’d gone to bed too early the previous night and didn’t want to do so again. Eventually Chris emerged to eat his own dinner and he opened the bottle of Champagne he’d brought for New Years.

We knew 2012 had arrived by the loud raucous that occurred as the clock struck midnight. Yes, we’d gone to bed a few hours prior to that! I was a struck with sadness in my sleepy haze by the thought of another year coming in. It made me a little sad to know that this would be the first year in two years with no long distance adventures. I let the sadness go quickly because I was soon back asleep.

Enchanted Rock is a place that is beckoning to be visited again, perhaps on a more quiet weekend where we can enjoy it in peace.