Enchanted Rock, Texas

This weekend, I had the opportunity to take my Ward's Young Men on a campout.  This was a special outing, as we're preparing for our High Adventure Trip next month.  The High Adventure will be a 30-mile backpacking trip in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas.  Needless to say, the boys (and their leaders) need to get a little time out on "the trail" to shake out equipment issues...and prepare those young men for some intensive elevation changes.  This weekend, we took the boys to the Enchanted Rock State Park, just outside Fredericksburg, Texas.

The state park is located in what's known as Texas Hill Country.  It's actually beautiful...not what you normally associate with Texas ; )  The park has a massive pink granite exfoliation dome, that rises 425 ft. above ground, 1,825 feet above sea level, and covers about 640 acres. It's one of the largest batholiths (underground rock formation uncovered by erosion) in the United States.

We started the trip by backpacking to the farthest point from the park entrance.  This meant that folks had to bring everything with them - food, water, etc.  You also had to bring all of your garbage back out with you.

The hike was gorgeous.  The weather cleared up right as we arrived (tender mercy for sure) and the trail was stunning, with wildflowers blooming all around.  The scenery was just amazing.

We stopped for the night in a designated "primitive camping" area.  It looked like we camped right in the middle of a meadow ; )  The boys and leaders spread out, as there was ample room for tents, etc.

This was my little home away from home...

I woke everyone up the next morning and we hiked for a bit, then prepared breakfast.  Since the High Adventure trip will be in wilderness area, we won't be able to order pancakes for breakfast.  Most of the  meals will be dehydrated or freeze-dried, due to weight and space restrictions in the backpacks.  So, we all enjoyed a little freeze-dried meal.  Mine was scrambled eggs with ham and peppers.  It actually wasn't too bad.  My backpacking stove boils water in about 1 min, so it was easy to make.

Following the breakfast feast, we proceeded to hike for about five miles around the border of the state park.  Now, it just wouldn't be a YM outing without some clowning around.  Two of the YM brought light sabers.  Yes, you read that right.  They had an epic light saber duel going for most of the day:

The hike was beautiful - which certainly made carrying the backpacks a little easier.  Here's the fearless leader showing everyone where they needed to go:

We tried to take the young men on some trails that required some elevation changes, so they would be prepared for what comes next month.  I may have driven those boys a little hard…

Overall, we had an amazing time.  We took this last picture while we were close to the summit of the Enchanted Rock.  It's a great group of young men…and leaders.  I'm lucky to be able to hang out with these guys:

I'm a little less nervous about the week-long backpacking trip that's coming.  I still have a bit of adjustments to make with my insulin, given the load of the backpacks, etc.  All in good time… ; ) Here's a little video from the weekend...