Enchanted Rock
Scouting for High Angle Rescue Training Sites (Page 4)

Right- Enchanted Rock at far right, with Little Rock in the center. A piece of Turkey Peak on the left.

Right- But on close inspection it's not paint, but a lichen that is partial to granite rocks. On rugged granite outcrops, large colonies of orange lichens such as Caloplaca saxicola may be thousands of years old. In fact, the colorful chartreuse rock lichen Acarospora chlorophana may grow only a few millimeters per century.

Note: It is unlawful to disfigure, remove, excavate or destroy any paleontological, prehistoric, or historic site or artifact, including these lichens. A scientific permit is required to gather any type of fossil, rock, plant or animal.

Left- Jim Karnes rests on a small boulder in the shade halfway up Turkey Peak. Notice the orange face of the boulder to his left. This coloration (orange here, chartreuse in other places) looks like paint has been splashed carelessly around.

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