Balanced Rock Trail

I was in search of a balanced rock and I found so much more. We set out early for this hike because it was going to be another warm day. The bonus of this hike is that you get to do a short off-road drive to get there. On the drive we caught up with several large SUV’s heading to the trail head. I thought this was odd for so early in the morning. When we got to the parking area we found a large group of young teenagers chatting away like bees in a hive. So I thought, we aren’t going to get held up by this group so we quickly scampered through the crowd with our hiking sticks in hand and made it to the trail head. It was just the two of us enjoying the beautiful dessert meadow trail and the crisp morning air.

But who were we kidding thinking that we could outpace a group of young healthy teenagers! As we approached the spot where the fairly easy trail turned into rock climbing, we were overwhelmed by what seemed like army soldiers overtaking a territory. I succumbed to defeat and let them all pass, as I otherwise feared braking their spirits with my extreme climbing skills. At this point Shannon stayed behind and figured being bear bate was less of a risk than climbing the larger boulders to the top. I moved on and tackled the climb with only minor shin scrapes.

When at the top I found what I thought I was looking for, a giant boulder seemingly suspended in air, balanced between two other rocks like it could fall at any moment. So what does any sane person do at that moment? Well, stand underneath it of course. The kids had scattered about in cubby holes all over the mountainside like bears bedding down for the night. I struck up conversation with one of the adults and learned that this was a 7th grade class from a Christian school near Austin on a field trip to Big Bend for a few days. Then another adults started a 10 count and suddenly complete silence overcame this rock sanctuary. The kids pulled their notebooks out of their backpacks out their notebooks to write and essay.

I sat in awe and envy wishing I had such an opportunity for a learning experience like this in school. What an amazing classroom! The balanced rock was simply a physical metaphor for the life balance that these young men and women were experiencing. I have no doubt that they will leave that place better people then when the arrived. I know I did.