Any ideas what this thing is?

On a short family hike - a walk by many standards - we saw this crazy looking flower. Well, I guess it is a flower.  It looks a bit extraterrestrial...  ...The Internet has been no help for me so far...

Edit: After originally posting this, I wrote to Mr. Smartyplants at The Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center and got this response:

"Dear Ryan,

This appears to be a Clematis species and is, perhaps, Clematis columbiana, rock clematis, but other species are possible.
Here are links to more information and photos:

http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=CLCO2

http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?stat=BROWSE&query_src=photos_flora_sci&where-genre=Plant&where-taxon=Clematis+columbiana&title_tag=Clematis+columbiana

Thank you for your question.

Best wishes,
Nan"

Thanks to Nan - I am relieved of this nagging question in my brain...