Enchanted Rock State Park

[jlane]

Going to be at a wedding this weekend in Fredricksburg to perform some best man duties (trip the groom when he tries to run) I should have some time on Sat to get outdoors in the cool low 90's. At teh very least I'm going for a run. Worth bringing a chalkbag and shoes? On bloodyflapper it looks... ok.

[blimp]

oh god please don't let your fingers touch the chossssssssssssssss


worth hiking to the top and scrambling around the caves.

[zirc]

remember when pander and merrick were in love with this place? haha.

[ipoach]

HAHAHAHA... Some of thossiest granite I have seen. A little bit better than the stuff in Castle Rocks, ID.

That being said there are maybe 3 good problems there. (hundreds established)

[ipoach]

this terrible video pretty much sums up there terrible climbing...



make sure to stay-tuned or atleast skip to 2:00 for the best part...

[toivo]

souvenirs++ the moves look like granite moves though.

[VTP]

such crumbly choss. pretty though. get up early enough and the hike to the top is worth it.

not to say i havent had fun out there, if you bring shoes go to the ... ah fuck it dont bring shoes.

[jlane]

Trip report that includes absolutely no technical climbing - First of all thank you blimp / vtp for the advice. Much appreciated, and spot on. Hiked the summit trail, checked out the first part of the (well marked) cave but I didn't have a light source so that adventure ended fairly quickly. Back down, did the loop trail, back up little rock / echo canyon and hooked back up with the base trail and checked out the slabs with the shiny bolts on the back side. Some of the routes looked worth doing for the novelty, though the bolting is piss poor. No rhyme or reason to the placements and obviously not done from stance on lead with a hand drill like a granite slab should be. Rap bolting a slab? c'mon. The one bolt 5 feet under a easily protected horizontal undercling was especially useless and rather offensive to my old school desert ethics. No climbers in sight. Summary of the rock quality - varying as you went around, slightly better than front range choss. When I left around 12:00 I saw at least 2 parties with ropes heading in. It was around 90-92 at the time, which I figure was a few points higher than the IQ's of the fools just showing up. No hot hiking chicks, low single mom count. Not sure I will make it back but all in all, a pretty place and worth the 6 bones to sweat out a little alcohol from the night before. Oh yeah - If anyone in the neighborhood needs a cheap pair of shoes someone left behind pair of sportivas by the echo canyon boulders. Yellow, tiny little size 40. No other 'vaga'-accessories to be seen.

[ScreamingMedic]

Somehow your waste of time became my waste of time too...


Behold! The power of the Internets!

[Lox]

I bet that easily protected under cling is a massive loose flake and you would be psyched on having that bolt. I think it's pretty funny your ethic can be insulted without even climbing. Did you get that ethic in j tree?!?

[pander]

man! glad you got see erock. i learned to climb there so i kinda remember it fondly. my family is all from gillespie, and we used to hike it with grandma and grandpa when i was young. that was before fburg turned into such a god forsaken tourist hole. it was a pretty cool town back then. on the way back into fburg there is a fenced off rock quarry that you used to be able to explore. it was full of boulders including "balanced rock," a boulder balanced on 3 pieces of feldspar like a giant football. the quarry blew it up (they blamed "vandals" but have since closed it, and quarried the whole zone).

i've done a lot of the routes on the backside. contrary to your statements, i believe most of the routes were actually bolted on hooks with hand drills. pretty run out shit, mostly. the bouldering is ...... the bouldering is only enjoyable if you really like slab/crack climbing, as the patina on anything overhung is non-existent. so anything even slightly overhung is kitty litter. i would say, however, there are a LOT of really good aretes, slabs, cracks, and dihedrals. that said, no one climbs there in the summer except houstonions.

suck it, haters.

[jlane]

Pander, here are a few low quality camera phone pics -

[KIX]

I am sure there is some hiker forum somewhere that would be glad for your trip report.

[Lox]

Which route? I can just ask Crump...

[Betty]

I'm with Lox and Pander on this one. This is my favorite granite in the country, but yeah, the overhanging stuff IS kitty litter. I climb cracks and non-overhanging face climbs there. If you know where to look, there are some incredibly killer cracks at all ability levels. There's a 5.6? (Cave Crack) that I could climb up and down all freakin day, and have one of the best days of my life doing so. And doing some of the incredibly thin but solid slab climbs on the back of Main Dome are as much fun and challenging to me as Slim Pickins.

[zirc]

oh yeh? was it as hard as that eliminate you did in pa? was it?

[Cardboard_Dog]

I had to post this .... It HAD TO BE DONE.

[zirc]

no.

the pike run eliminate problem is unrepeated.

my beta:

Start
hands matched blue 1,
left foot red 4,
right foot flagging (thinking about how stupid this problem is while pulling on)

cross left hand to

blue 2,

right foot to red 6

jump to lip.

yard over with ease, double fist pump in your face porch.

FLASHED IT.

[Betty]

I think this year's will be the worst attended Granite Gripper ever. Austin is still having 105 to 107 degree days pretty much every day. Because the granite soaks up and radiates that heat, the Gripper will be re-named the Granite Blister. And everyone will ruin two pairs of shoes apiece if they do any slab.