Enchanted Rock State Natural Area

The Tonkawa believed ghost fires flickered at the top. Geologists explain the groaning sounds — the rock contracts at night after heating in the sun. Both explanations are true, in their way. Enchanted Rock is a pink granite monadnock, the largest in the United States, rising 425 feet above the surrounding Hill Country terrain. Archaeological evidence puts humans here at least 11,000 years back. It was designated a National Natural Landmark in 1971. The rock earns the trip on geology alone — the legends are a bonus.