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Enchanted Rock 2000 |
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DATE : September 29, 2000
TIME OF ARRIVAL : 10:00 pm (right after the Rangers left for bed)
WEATHER CONDITION : Cool and breezy
SKY CONDITION : Clear with 3/4 moon
CAMP SITE # - 35
TOTAL CAMPING CREW : 14 (10 kids and 4 adults) |
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| The Arrival... |
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���������� Enchanted Rock had always been one of my favorite camping places.� On the weekend of September 22th, I got to experience another thrill moment with nature.� My camping crew consisted of 5th and 6th graders from Walnut Creek Elementary School.� They were just as excited as I was and for a lot of them, this was their first camping trip.�
����������� We arrived late to Enchanted Rock and had a very difficult time seeking out our campsite.� The night sky was spotted with billions of galaxies and many shooting stars.� Even the Milky Way galaxy was detected stretching east to west across the sky.� The night air had a cool howling breeze weaving in and out of our clothes.� Our camp area had such a quiescent silence that even the slightest step on a twig would echo throughout the area.� The crickets were speechless and the singing locusts were silent to our ears.� We were the only ones clamoring about while waking up a few angry campers.� I had begun to realize that the silent area was not a place for active kids.� A lot of them were bored to their misery and to spice up the trip, I told them ghost stories pertaining to the Rock but after a minute of mockery,� I gave up.� During our camping trip, the kids finally understood what I was talking about.���������
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| The Night Walk... |
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����������� That night, I took three boys on an adventure.� Our goal:� to be alive in the morning while sleeping 3000 feet on a magma bubble.� We left the camp base at approximately 1:30 am to avoid the Ranger preventing us from going. The boys with me (Tan, Bao, and Trung) were on an adventure for the first time.� Their teacher (Thay Pham) decided not to join us and instead slept in his van while the rest of the gang slept in their cozy tents.��
������������� At approximately 1:50 am, we were on the summit trail.� The trail was filled with nothing but cacti and thorn brushes that kept pricking our legs.� I wasn't sure if the trail we took was the even the correct one.� Evidently after 20 minutes of wandering, I realized that the trail led the back way up of Turkey's Peak.� It took us about another thirty minutes to trace our steps back since a lot of the brushes had camouflaged the trail.� I was still nervous about going up the Rock at night; especially since I had kids with me whom have never rock climb before.� Our journey up the Rock became a journey of attrition.� It was a very long strenuous fight up an incline that slowly gnawed away our lower tendons.� Fortunately though, the kids were in a lot better shape than I was and because of my obesity, we ended up resting eight times before finally reaching the summit.� During our flight up, we heard background noises coming from below.� We looked back and saw a lot of flashlights heading in our direction!� At first, I thought the Rangers were coming to bust us but luckily it turned out to be eight intoxicated people.� After observing their behavior for several minutes, we quickly ran up the rest of the incline until we reached the top.� At the summit, we encountered the tree that stood in the center for many decades and perhaps centuries.� The branches were bare of leaves and seemed as if some parts of it had been sawed off.� Whatever it looked like, it was still a beautiful creation.� Down below, we still heard the people coming our way.� Immediately I ordered the kids to move away from the tree as far as possible but also away from the incline in case one of us decides to roll down in our sleep.� While looking for a flat surface area, our visitors arrived and spotted us.� They blinded us with their bright flashlights and with the ammo we came equipped with, we backfired at them.� The light wars ended when one of them came over to our little party and offered us a beer for truce.� With underaged kids with me, I declined the offer and made peace with our new neighbors.� One person from their group yelled, "We've landed on the moon!"� Our little party gave a sudden burst of laughter and throughout the entire night, it too felt like we've landed on the moon.���� |
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| The Peak... |
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������������ The next morning, I expected a beautiful sunrise to wake us up but instead, we were surprised by a dark cloudy sky.� At the corner of my eye while being half awake, I noticed a dark black object soaring freely in the sky.� I didn't know what it was at first but then realized that it was a lonely black turkey vulture getting its morning exercise.� The boys were still asleep and being so tired, I joined them.� Approximately 20 minutes later, I reopened my eyes and saw the sky filled with these hungry vultures circling above us!� In a frantic mode, I got the boys packing before the invasion came and in a matter of minutes, we were on our feet moving about and letting our friendly sky swoopers know that we weren't their morning dead meat.��
���������������� For lunch that day, we had marinated barbecue chicken wings.� We ate lunch together to prepare ourselves for an all day hike from Turkey's Peak , to the Rock, and into the Enchanted Cave.� Before we began our intensive journey, a group picture was taken.� I was the group leader and had the responsibility of ten kids.� It took us about thirty minutes climbing the back way up the peak and in some steep areas, we used the rope for assistance; in fact, I remember myself slipping several times while wearing� my nike sneakers.� When we arrived at the top of the peak, we all celebrated with a heavenly joy.� There was a cool pleasant breeze that evaporated most of our accumulated sweat.� The turkey vultures flew high around us but none landed on our newly claimed territory.� For most of the kids, this was the highest elevation they had ever climbed.� It was an unforgettable superb moment for them and seeing them smile with joy brought a feeling of accomplishment to me.� After spending thirty minutes on top of Turkey's Peak, we repelled our way down using the rope and continued our journey towards the Rock.����
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| The Rock... |
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�������� After climbing the Peak, the kids were really excited about climbing the big one.� I was very tired to climb and wanted to head back to campsite.� I proposed an offer of revitalizing ourselves back at the campsite but immediately got rejected.� Because we live in a democratic society and the majority voted yes, I led the crew up the big Rock with very tiresome legs.� About half way up the rock, we took a break for photographs on an unusual rock that looked like an upside down elephant.� After the short break, the kids and Thay Pham ran up the rock as if they were racing for the gold in the 2000 Olympics while Van and I took it slowly but painfully.� When I got at the top, I felt a painful sore on both cheeks of my gluteus maximus and my lower gastrocnemius.� The frontal side of my rectus femoris began to cramp and all I could think of was lying down with a back massage.� The sun kept piercing our skins with its ultraviolet rays and caused us to scatter wildy like cockroaches looking for a dark shaded area.� The shaded area became our next and final quest: surviving the Enchanted Cave.�
������������� The atmosphere inside the cave was a dandy fifteen degrees cooler.� Inside, we saw a total of two sleeping bats and one actively flying around.� These bats reminded me alot like the ones under the Congress Avenue Bridge.� The only difference, I was 1 foot away from touching it as opposed to 30 feet from looking.� It was a very unique experience for me and will be something I'll never forget.� With all the commotion we were making in the cave, I was very puzzled to see these bats still peacefully sleeping.� The last thing on my mind that I wanted to do was wake up an angry bat.� It took us about 30 minutes to finally see the first sign of daylight.� We had a choice of either exiting or exploring the cave even further.� With all the injuries that occurred while being in there, we all decided to see daylight again.� The return hike was very long and strenuous.� Mary Anne (one of the kids) started seeing ice cream cones on the side of Little Rock but Thay Pham pictured it to be a banana split instead.� I thought they were both crazy until I too saw a vanilla sundae with a cherry on top.� With all the hallucinations, we topped off the hike and drove into Fredericksburg for ice cream at Dairy Queen.����� ��� |
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| The Haunted Rock... |
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���������� As the night dawned on us, we all prepared for a second slumber party on the Rock.� This time, my little army had increased by a number of five extra kids.� At approximately 1:45 am, we left the campsite and began on one of the most bizarre moments I had ever encountered in my life.� About halfway up the peak, we saw these two unusual lights following us.� One of the kids discovered it before me and when I first saw it, I was unable to explain to them what it was.� I did not want to tell them that they were ghosts or goblins otherwise I too would have gone frantically crazy.� At first, I thought they were Ranger lights coming again to get us but that night, no Rangers came up.� Besides, the way these lights were migrating didn't seem to be Ranger lights.� Instead, they were fast pace moving lights that were mysteriously moving at the same speed and direction on the same summit trail.� After trying to analyze this bizarre phenomenon, my nerves became tensed and I was about to go nuts but didn't for the sake of the children.� I didn't want to turn back to camp because I didn't know who or what was down there.� Without even thinking, I told the kids to run as far and fast up the rock without looking back.� We ran for about a minute without stopping and took a brief rest to see if the lights were still behind us.� Sure enough, they were.� We sat in the dark while observing these lights to see if they would diverge its path or have an increase in light intensity.� The only thing that seemed to change was its zigzag motion.� Still, it was a very eerie moment and I had no clue or idea what it was.� This puzzled me because it wasn't a group of people otherwise we would have heard voices.� With our hearts full of fear, we ran the rest of the way up nonstop.� At the top, we immediately got to work laying out our blankets and hiding ourselves from whatever was coming for us.� Our little niche looked like a small igloo filled with frightened penguins.� It took about twenty minutes for one of us to poke our heads outside to see if their were any signs of life other than us and the tree.� It felt like we were trapped on a forbidden planet and the only way to be alive was to make it through the night.� The winds were weaving its way in and out of the cave making howling echo sounds while the moon was partially covered by the clouds giving it a haunting image.� Even one of the girls claimed that she saw a ghost while hiking on Little Rock earlier after sunset.� We felt doomed and for the first time, I felt scared.� We tried to think positive images to ease our minds off but our surrounding images kept us in fear.� A game of "Judge Thuan" was played but still afterwards, I sensed fear in some of the kids.� It took us a long time to finally settle things down and when it did, we slept peacefully together.� The next morning, our fears were swept away when we saw a beautiful sunrise.��� |
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| An Overview... |
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�������� Camping at Enchanted Rock gets better and better each time I head out there.� The scenary is still the same but every visit is unique.� This time, I got to experience what it was like being a parent looking out and worrying all the time about their kids.� Believe me, it's the toughest job in the world.� My goal for this trip was to let the kids understand what nature is all about.� To me, the great outdoors is what life is all about.� It is the means of survival and being the fittest to survive.� The verse from The Tyger, "In what distant deeps or skies" (Blake, 443B), is message in which the poet himself is trying to seek far beyond what the mind can imagine. For these kids, climbing the peak and the rock was something far from what their minds had thought it to be.� Even the lonely vulture that flew above us belongs in the circle of life.� The way it flew, "gliding down on those great sails" (Jeffers) while inspecting made us think that it as an "evil" creature.� In reality, it is a creature no lesser or greater than us.� Overall, I had a wonderful time teaching these kids the great outdoors and I hope that in their generation time, they too will pass the message down about the importance of preserving our natural environment.� ���� |
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Ink's Lake 1996 |
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Return Home |
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