Enchanted Rock of Fredericksburg

This trip was for us two pals. Aron and I loaded up his truck with 200lbs. of camping and climbing gear, and got out like we usually do; late on Friday night. We cruise to the store and load up on necessities such as water, snacks, and Aider's sausage *wink wink*. We are out of Houston and at the entrance to Enchanted Rock in a completely uneventful 4 hours. When we finally arrive at the park it is cccooolllldddd, wi--n--d---y, and crystal clear. Deep sky objects stick out like blinking neon signs in the sky; Andromeda (our sister galaxy) is visible to the naked eye with no problem at all. You know it's a dark night when you can just look up and see Andromeda. I also spotted an object near Polaris (the North Star), that I hadn't noticed before. As it turns out, it is the well-studied open cluster NGC 188; a beautiful, highly symmetric cluster of very old stars. Anyhow, having all of this in the sky above us really kicked the weekend off nicely. So we picked out a campsite and lit the coals for dinner. Aron, with his oh-so-complicated taste, decided on a nice five-star dish of.....instant macaroni. I on the other hand, enjoy eating, so on goes the relish, cheese, hot sauce, and mustard onto a bun. Shortly thereafter it is followed by a nice fat charcoaled Aider's Cajun Sausage. That, my friends, is a meal.

After dinner, Aron set up his tent and I set up my cot + thermarest. We enjoyed very mild conditions throughout the night and Aron slept great. I on the other hand, didn't. Couldn't really figure it out until the next morning when I woke up and found one of my cot's legs buried 4" deeper than the other ones in the sand...so that my ass was stuck in a bag on one side of the cot. I just blew it off, reminding myself that I've experienced MUCH worse on camping trips.

Waking up to bright sunlight and chirping birds, we loafed around a bit and made breakfast. Aron: Fruit loops. Me: Oatmeal with brown sugar, cherry, and apple bits. Aside from our eating differences, we both enjoyed the damn fine orange juice that Tropicana makes.

Time to Rock: we gear up (shoes, chalk, water...lol) and hike over to the Dairy Farm boulders. The action quickly begins with Aron's fine ascent of the Erock classic Frogatron, V5. This is a powerful problem that starts matched on an OK rail, with terrible crimps and bad feet to the top. It was the single problem that he wanted to get on this trip, so he was pretty happy about it even though it didn't show. Congrats man, way to climb it. Shortly after Aron's send, I find myself somehow topping out my first boulder problem Heavy Cream, V4. The first thing I thought when my tips touched the starting holds I thought, whoa, this granite is waaaaay different than limestone. As time progressed, I found myself liking it more and more, even though I still find it razor-fucking-sharp. The solution is to climb granite more often, I guess.

Onwards towards I Dismember Momma, V3. What a wild ass problem this is. I tried it a couple of times, but would flash-pump and fall before pulling the last moves over the lip. I'm okay with that, but I want it next time. Aron sent without any issues.....maybe I should be doing pullups...

The next day, we load up with sport climbing gear. Heading out to The Kingdom of Zilch, Aron leads Solo (5.8) then I climb it via Aron's hanging belay. We both rap, and walk over to live the life on Zanzibar, V2. An interesting route, the opening moves go up through an overhanging dihedral with shitty feet, to a huge right-hand jug + right heel hook, then an excellent hands + heel hooking traverse to a mantel finish. FANTASTIC problem, but I really didn't take to the the opening moves because of the tiny footholds. I sent after a few tries, and Aron sent sometime in between. He apparently tried this one at the Granite Gripper a couple of years earlier and didn't make it, so getting it this time was cool.

We had an excellent time. Great company, great place, and great climbing. I'm not sure I could ask for more, and I bet Aron would say the same thing.

Aron 'sending Small Town, somehow V2	Small Town	Topout Sloper on Small Town (yes he did send)	Justin on Heavy Cream, V4	Heavy Cream
This is actually an approach...	Justin Belay	This should be bolted...	Awesome view atop the Acid Boulder	Buzzard's Roost on the Left
Solo, an aptly named 5.8 sport route	YUM	YUM	Extremely rare camp critter...	View looking towards the campground