Stop number 2 had been highly anticipated for a couple of years after our visit to nearby Longhorn Cavern. I was also very optimistic about our campsite! A less crowded weekday reservation allowed me to have options to choose from and I was able to select a well reviewed water front site! And it did not disappoint! We had a long, level concrete pad with a perfect shade tree over the camper. The water front provided an ideal kayak launch as well! So ideal, that other nearby campers politely asked if they could share the launch and they ended up being a very sweet couple we enjoyed chatting with. And as icing on the cake, the nearby bathhouse was brand new and air conditioned (!) literally the nicest one we have ever seen! If I have to list a con, it would only be that there is zero privacy between sites. That appears to be the case throughout the huge 300+ campsite park anyways. The hilly landscape and lake more than make up for it.
Once we were popped up we headed across the camping loop to the trail head for The Devil’s Waterhole. Along the way we were distracted down/up another trail to take in a large section of Gneiss (pronounced nice, thanks for reading that plaque Ashlyn!) rocks and ended up in the dried up bed of Spring Creek that feeds into the lake. Apparently when it’s flowing, the area is a beautiful waterfall and lovely to swim in!
We finally made it to a more reliable swimming spot coined the Devil’s Waterhole. The rock formations and cliff sides surrounding the narrow corner of the lake were stunning! The water, however, left a bit to be desired for me haha. The clarity was decent enough, but the globs of weeds? pond scum? sludge?….not quite sure what it was… kept drifting by and I wasn’t hot enough to swim with it. I guess the kids were though! They just swam around the chunks and found a good perching rock. We were able to witness one person jump from the highest point of the cliff and it got Weston’s attention, but we decided best to save that for the next day.
After dinner, we drove to the other side of the park, which is quite large, and tried a fishing pier. We chunked lures for a bit, but didn’t catch anything other than a beautiful sunset.
The next morning after some bacon, eggs and biscuits Ashlyn, Weston and myself hopped on the kayaks while Archer and Sally lounged in the AC of the camper. We paddled around the corner back to the Devil’s Waterhole and up into the narrows as far as we could. Weston hopped off and attempted climbing up the cliff side to jump, but couldn’t get a good grip on the slippery rock in a bulky life jacket and I wasn’t ready for him to jump without one. Another time. They both enjoyed more swim time before we paddled back for lunch.
Later, Archer gave kayaking in our cove a go and found it kind of meh. Weston and I went back out before dinner to look at another fishing pier. We were really loving that launch site! The boys waded around chasing minnows until dinner and then Weston built a fire for our s’mores. The rest of the relaxing evening was spent watching the fire and the water until it got dark and Archer was ready for bed. The 3 of us opted to sit in the dark and wait the fire out…until a skunk showed up and started digging through our not yet thrown out trash! 😆 Once our light hit him and we realized what he was, it was a race of who ran from who faster! Lol After he stayed away for a minute or 2, I retrieved the bag and sent it to the dumpster. Archer was a little bummed he missed the chaos haha.
The next morning, Archer hopped on the bow of my kayak and we paddled into the Waterhole and he casted along the bank. One more ride before it was time to pack up. We WILL be back and will get that exact spot and will stay longer and will bring Nathan! Everything was amazing and we barely saw the highlights. We were rallying from Lockhart for sure, onward to Lake Brownwood!
-Lindsay
Gregarious Gregorys 