On a recent sweltering afternoon, Doug Cochran stood outside the visitor center of Enchanted Rock State Natural Area and pointed an infrared thermometer gun at the black tarmac in the parking lot. The display read 141 degrees. He swung it over to a nearby patch of dry soil. Even hotter: 163 degrees.
“Heat Warning! Feels Like 110°,” read a sign at the entrance to the park, famous for its exposed rock domes that have essentially spent the summer baking in the sun. “Know your limits!”
As superintendent of the park just north of Fredericksburg in Central Texas, Cochran likes to see well-prepared visitors come to Enchanted Rock in the summer. But he’s also happy when Texans opt for other outdoor experiences, often with water access, instead of the minimally shaded grasslands and bare granite.