The Fissure

Miriam, Justin, Jon, Jeff, Me, Melissa, Paul, Sal

The fissure in Enchanted Rock is definitely a highlight of any trip to the rock. Just be sure to bring a flashlight--the first few times I went with people, we forgot flashlights. You can't make it very far in the fissure without any light. One time we went without flashlights, and there were a couple people kind enough to let us go through with them (they had flashlights).

Then there was the time a big group of us (pictured above) wanted to see how far the fissure went. See, there's several exits, so you can choose your level of difficulty--generally, it gets tighther the further you go. We had already gone through it pretty far that day, but we wanted to go even farther. Some of us seemed convinced that the fissure would end at the bottom of the rock. At any rate, we pushed on, perhaps a little too hard, and we got stuck--our frontman, or frontwoman, called back to us to inform us that we had reached a dead end. This did not sit well with me, because I had just slid down into a section that I wasn't altogether able to get out of. I couldn't find a foothold to support me in a return up the slope, and I started panicking. I don't think I've felt quite so worried in my life--you probably don't fully understand everything that was running through my head. To make a long story short, we got out, just in time for the sunset, so we had to scramble down the rock in the dark, and just before we started our descent, Sal's knee started acting up, so the going was slow. (No offense to Sal, I'm just saying that when you've got an injured person with you, you don't run down the rock as fast as you normally would).

Then there was the time when we couldn't get very far because there were so many daddy-longlegs scrambling around the fissure that we were literally grossed out of going any further.

Alright, you've explored the fissure, now what?
I want to visit the campsite | I want to go goof off! | I want to go back to the top!


I need some air. Take me back to the index. 1