Hiking

Last Friday I drove down to Enchanted Rock State Natural Area.Enchanted Rock is a enormous pink granite (affectionately known as Texas Pink Granite) batholith located 15 miles north of Fredericksburg, Texas. The rock received its name from the Tonkawa Indians who believed they could see ghost fires near the summit after nightfall. The Tonkawa Indians also reported strange creaking and groaning coming from the rock at night. We now know these sounds are from the rock heating during the day

I spent all day Friday at Enchanted Rock State Natural Area near Fredericksburg, Texas. I have a lot to share with little time to post it. Here are a couple of pictures to tied you over until I can do the trip justice. Enchanted Rock summit trail with Turkey Peak in the background.Enchanted Rock viewed from the Echo Canyon Trail

The Lost Mine trail is one of the shorter hikes available in Big Bend National Park. It receives its name from legend that claims a secret mine once existed in the area. Legend says workers were blindfolded before being brought to the mine to work in order that they could not disclose its location. To my knowledge no one has ever found the lost mine, but if you have only a short time to visit Big Bend, Lost Mine Trail

After reading about the Great Sand Dunes over at Colorado Lifestyle the family and I decided to head over to Monahans to play in Texas’ own oversized sandbox. The Monhans Sandhills State Park is located about an hour west of Midland on interstate 20. The park consists of 3840 acres of sand dunes, some up to 70 feet high. The park invites people to come and play in the sand in a verity of ways.Since we were visiting in January

We had originally set out, Monday, to hike the Madera Canyon Trail located on The Nature Conservancy’s Davis Mountains Preserve. I first found out about Madera Canyon Trail from West Texas Weekly and have wanted to check it out every since. But as we approached the Lawrence E. Wood picnic area on Hwy 118 (where the trail begins) we could see smoke coming from the area of the trail. As we came closer, a gentleman with a stop sign informed

Yesterday my oldest and I drove down to the Davis Mountains State Park to do some hiking. We wanted to hike in the parks “primitive area” but where told the park had allowed some hunters on the area to bow hunt for Havalinas. So we took the Park Rangers suggestion and followed a number of trails around a five mile ”Skyline” loop of the park. We grabbed a park map and drove down to the Skyline Mountain Bike Trailhead and

I received the March (??) issue of Backpacker Magazine yesterday in the mail. A Featured article titled Ultimate Rockies by Steve Howe highlights 14 Rocky Mountain weekend and weeklong trips in the heart of the country. Two specific trips caught my eye due to their close proximity (relative) to West Texas.The first was Wheeler Peak, the highest in NM at 13,161 feet. Wheeler has a 16 mile out and back summit with an elevation gain of 3,800 feet. The

Sunday morning I had the opportunity to hike in Cade’s Cove. I woke up shortly before first light and got dressed for a cold winter hike. I took the short drive from our hotel in Townsend, TN to the entrance of the auto loop in Cade’s Cove. I decided to hike to Abram’s Falls for a number of reasons. One, I always love a good waterfall. It seems no matter how many photos I have of falling water I always