The last day of our October Hill Country parks visits, we left Fredericksburg and headed North to Colorado Bend State Park. It’s a decent sized park that borders a large section of a “bend” in the Colorado River. All of the camping is primitive with a lot of riverside spots and the hiking trails are on the long side and rugged. This park is also the most far flung from a main road or town that we have visited to date. We were supposed to visit this park once before a couple years ago in August, but I skipped it last minute due to the heat at the time potentially making the hike to Gorman Falls an extreme challenge. I’m glad we skipped it then, because the hike was challenging enough in 80 degrees and Nathan got to experience it with us after all!

After about a 5 mile drive down a narrow ranch road, we reached the entrance gate to the park. Shortly after, we were parked at the trail head and starting the 3 mile roundtrip hike by 12:30. Being there on a Saturday in the fall, we thankfully didn’t encounter too much congestion on the trail and the first mile was easy going.

The terrain turned more rocky and it was similar to traversing the landscape of Porter’s Hill until we got to the final decent to the falls.

A handrail chain had been put in place to assist in the almost 45 degree slope, but due to DECADES of foot traffic “polishing” the limestone surface, we mostly slid down on our butts and used the chains to control the slide.

At the bottom we were instantly met with the sights, smells and sounds of the waterfall. Only to be viewed from afar haha.

Even though my photos don’t show it, the area was quite crowded and numerous people lined the banks of the river taking a dip. We weren’t interested in attempting that activity. The steep riverbank was muddy and we had a 1.5 mile hike back. We found a few places to sit, had a snack and made our trek back the way we came in. Fortunately, scrambling up the rock slope easier than the slide down!

By 2:30, we were back at the car and heading to Llano for the night. On the way out, we stopped at the General Store of Bend, Tx. The closest convenience to the park. We got a coke and a look around wishing we could stay for a late lunch, but we had sightseeing to do in Llano. Bronson&Ryder Brewing and Llano River exploring rounded out our long weekend trip perfectly.

Gorman Falls was a great hike, but I feel the waterfall didn’t live up to the hype. I know the parks system is protecting the ecosystem around the falls from the heavy foot traffic the attraction brings in, but looking at it through brush was just anticlimactic. I would like to go back to this park for camping and more hiking, though. I would like to see the night sky in its remote location and challenge myself on its other rugged trails.

-Lindsay