The morning of our 15 year wedding anniversary, we visited our 80th state park! Enchanted Rock is insanely popular and day passes sell out sometimes in the first hour of opening online 5 months out. Weekends during the cooler months in particularly get packed. We went on a Friday morning and got parked and on the trail by 9:30.

The summit trail is under a mile long with half of it being an uphill burn on the granite mound. The crowd was still manageable and even with a few stops to let large groups pass, we made it to the top in 25 minutes.

We spent another 30 minutes taking in views and even found the USGS marker!

Weston and I were not the biggest fans of the downhill hike with how glaringly obvious it was that we were way up on a big rock and there isn’t anything to catch a fall, but we were very generous with our switchbacks and made it just fine :).

Ambition won for a moment and we attempted part of the Echo Canyon trail offshoot from the summit trail, but gave it half a mile before deciding it was getting too hot and too close to lunchtime. But we did enjoy momentarily exploring another feature of the park.

We grabbed one more shady spot for a break before the final stretch to the car and started to notice the crowd making their way up had increased significantly already.

The rock is remarkable, unique and known worldwide (we heard at least 3 different languages/accents just while we were there), but it’s a one and done for me. There is more to this park than just the rock and I do wish we had prioritized some of it more. If I ever do come back, it would be on a random Tuesday at like 7am and I would hike any other trail but the summit, haha. But now we can say we did it!

-Lindsay

After Blanco State Park, we arrived in the parking lot for the falls trailhead at Pedernales Falls State Park. We had a tailgate lunch, filled up the camelbacks and headed out for the much anticipated falls.

While there is a less than half mile route to the falls, there is also a 1.5 mile loop that drops down along the river below before arriving at the falls. I pretty much proposed the long way as the only option haha. The Hackenburg Loop was definitely the path less travelled and we enjoyed the quiet river and landscape.

When the trail opened up at the base of the falls, I was blown away by the enormity of it! The first we noticed was the debris line on the beach from the July flooding in the Hill Country. Absolutely astonishing to think about that area raging with floodwaters.

But, on this day, we were able to walk, climb and crawl all over the unique rock structure. We spent an hour exploring every pool, crevice and boulder we could.

We didn’t have enough time and the pictures don’t do it justice. We were on a schedule making sure we got to our bat viewing at Old Tunnel State Park that evening on time. I want to go back so bad and soon. As extraordinary as the falls are, this park has so much more. The trails system is massive and dynamic. While swimming isn’t permitted at the falls or the section of river we hiked near, there is picturesque swimming hole downstream that I would love to check out. We haven’t even fully explored this park and it’s a top 5 favorite.

-Lindsay

After about 6 months of planning and anticipation we had arrived at park one of five we would be visiting during a four day trip on the weekend of our wedding anniversary. Blanco State Park is located in the town of Blanco, on the Blanco River…right in the thick of it. Surrounded by residential homes and highways, it held little appeal for camping to us personally and I had heard the swimming quality was questionable.

We arrived before 10 am and explored the river front day use areas and both CCC built dams. The engineering concept of creating multiple layers of pools in a naturally shallow river was remarkable! We all agreed the water looked more appealing for fishing than swimming, though. We’re prissy, I know haha.

Then we went to the opposite side of the highway that divides the park and walked a short nature trail that took us to a rather high-end bird blind.

After that, we loaded back up for the 30 minute drive to Pedernales Falls State Park. It was bewildering to be walking trails in a State Park all while people’s homes watched over us across the street. This park definitely seemed more like a city park that just happened to be run by the state government.

As we would come to find out during a pit stop on way home Sunday, the town of Blanco is really cute and full of entertainment. I could see how this park would be ideal for folks looking to set up their camper right in the heart of it all.

-Lindsay

I had been putting this park off hoping to visit it as part of a “Texas History Trail Trip,” but time is getting away from me and we jumped on an opportunity in July on our way home from a visit with family in Houston. The nearly 500 acre park along the Brazos River is part of the land granted to Stephen F. Austin in 1821. The site of his actual settlement, San Felipe de Austin, is across the highway from the park and we managed a visit to the now historical site as well.

The state park offers a number of camping options and trails. We picked a 3/4 mile loop trail that would take us by the Brazos River. We enjoyed the shady stroll through the woods and were able to get a glimpse of the river at a higher than usual level. There was a damaged river viewing deck along the trail, but it was still roped off and in need of repair.

The kids noticed a bike washing station back at the bathhouse we parked by and thought that was neat and practical concept. After that, we left the actual state park and headed over to the historical aspect of the area.

The museum and historical site has done an incredible job preserving artifacts and recreating structures to convey what San Felipe de Austin’s main business district was like in the 1820’s and 30’s. Especially since the original was deserted and burned to the ground in 1836 during the Runaway Scrape.

We spent about 40 minutes in the museum with the interactive displays and exhibits before taking a literal walk through history outside in the recreated town.

I’m bummed we didn’t have the time to drive the extra 2 hours out of the way to visit Washington-on-the-Brazos to continue our history lesson. The kids really liked the state park though and thought some time spent camping amongst the trees would be nice sometime. So maybe we will make it back and can day trip up to it. The historical site we did visit was phenomenal though and would highly recommend to anyone.

-Lindsay

On our way home from a Rocksprings trip this past June, we finally had enough time for the detour off I-37 to visit Choke Canyon State Park. The park comprises of two units on near opposite sides of the Choke Canyon Reservoir created by damming the Frio River and is best known for fishing. Unfortunately, due to the last couple years of drought conditions, the lake levels are severely low and much of the activity in the area has declined. So, we made the most of our visit with a look around at the current state of things.

We started with the larger Calliham Unit with its expansive day use and camping area. We only went to the day use area and could tell by the shut down boat ramp just how low the water levels were. Nathan, Sally and I found a trail that lead out to what should have been a jetty into the lake while the kids ran down to the banks of the boat ramp.

We then loaded back up and drove a couple more miles to the day use only South Shore Unit to pull up on another closed down boat ramp and got a view of the dam.

In it’s heyday (which I’m convinced will come back around) this park was quite popular for it’s water activities, wildlife (campers usually report lots of javelina, whitetail and alligator sightings) and fishing. With how close this park is to home, it’s an easy “last minute” camping trip option for the future.

-Lindsay

Crazy to admit, but I have been visiting the area a couple miles away from this state park for 35 years and NEVER made it to this park until June of this year! I guess I was just waiting to do it with my own little family 🙂

The Devil’s Sinkhole Society volunteers maintain the park and headquarters and run access tours by reservation only Wednesday through Sunday. Peak bat emergence season is May-October and evening tour times vary based off the sunset. Our tour for June 20th met at 7pm at the headquarters on the town square of Rocksprings where we paid our admission fee and watched a short film on the history of the area and some safety tips.

After everyone had checked in, the tour guide had us all caravan in personal vehicles from the headquarters out to the sinkhole area a couple miles away. The road in was a fun paved drive that ended at a parking lot and picnic area with bathrooms. Our guide gave some brief information on the flora and fauna of the area and some cool eyewitness stories of the wildlife. Then each group took turns peering down the 140 ft drop down to the cave that spanned 320 ft in diameter.

Archer was selected to pull up the basketball the guide had lowered down at the beginning of the tour so everyone could feel its cool surface temp from being down in the cave. We then all settled into the seating around the sinkhole as bat flight time approached. Expectations had already been tempered previously when the guide was describing this year’s activity compared to other years, but we were hopeful to see something.

So we saw about 15 bats, but the way they emerged was such a cool swirl before shooting off to the south. Apparently there’s no solid explanation for the smaller population at this sight while areas further east are packed this year. Regardless, I was just happy to have finally witnessed this amazing Texas marvel.

-Lindsay

On the morning of September 6th, after 8 days in the mountainous deserts of the Big Bend region, we set off from Terlingua on the last leg of our trip to Seminole Canyon State Park. On the way, we drove through the north end of Big Bend National Park taking one last look at Emory Peak and checking out the flat plains of the northern end of the park. A couple hours later we pulled off at the rest stop overlooking the US 90 bridge over the Pecos River. 20 minutes after that we were at the state park entrance.

I had a pictograph tour booked at 10am the next day, so our only objective was to set up camp and chill on the first day. There is one trail in the park that leads to a bluff where other pictographs can be viewed on the canyon wall from above, but we had reentered the heat of southwest Texas and just weren’t feeling it haha.

The next day we met our guide at headquarters and started down the trail into the canyon floor. We passed the “Maker of Peace” sculpture erected by Bill Worrell in 1994 inspired by the cave paintings.

Once down in the canyon, we trekked it back up into the rock shelter where the back wall and much of the ceiling were covered in images. While evidence of Ice Age Hunters from nearly 10,000 years ago in the area have been found, the images have dated back to 4,000 years ago to the Middle Archaic period. With many images of deer and human shapes in various forms, recent research suggest depictions of shaman’s journeys and a symbolic relationship with deer.

After our excellent guide finished her presentation, we had some time to meander on the path and enjoyed the unique details of the images and coming up with our own theories of symbolism. Dad was pretty sure he saw a deer blind in one haha!

We then headed back out the way we came and by 11:30, our tour was over. Obviously we worked up a good appetite and treated ourselves to some huge and delicious burgers at The J and P Bar and Grill in nearby Comstock. Ashlyn’s selection had fried mozzarella sticks layered in!

The rest of the evening was spent chasing shade and we enjoyed one more sunset on our Big Bend travels as the next day was the 5 hour drive home and the end of another epic roadtrip.

-Lindsay

On the seventh day of our Big Bend Region Trip, the Rio Grande had receded enough and with a clear forecast, we were finally able to circle back to the state park. After entering from the east side through the Barton Warnack Visitor Center, we set off down the gorgeous River Road (FM 170) to the only 2 hiking trails that allow dogs.

We started with the Hoodoos Trail located right along the road with a large parking area. Other than an obvious gravel path from the parking lot down to the area where the hoodoos stood, it was basically a free for all to get up close to the structures and everyone scattered to check out their favorites. However, climbing them was clearly posted prohibited due to the sensitively erosive material that is still changing like it has for millions of years.

From there, we drove to the Closed Canyon trail head and I finally got my canyon walk through experience!

We only got about 50 yards in before we ran into a heck of an obstacle formed by the recent flooding. A major wash out, also known as a tinaja, had occurred creating an unknown depth (definitely more than 3ft) pit with steep smooth/slippery rock on either side. Using his hiking stick, Dad leveraged himself up and onto the rougher, flatter area to make it through. Long-legged Hubby provided a foot wedge for the rest of us. Weston struggled with the crossing, so Nathan took another for the team and stayed behind with him and Sally.

Dad, Ashlyn, Archer and myself made it another half mile or so with the canyon indeed closing in more and more until we came to a sign suspended across the trail stating end of the line. Beyond that, rock climbing equipment is necessary in order to scale the rock wall past deep crevices and pits.

Traversing the rock wall past the tinaja on the way back appeared to be easier since it was just a matter of sliding down the smooth rock to the other side and Dad and the kids made it look that way! Except when it was my turn! I lost my footing too soon and was sliding straight down to the pit. I managed to yell, “I’m going in!” just before Nathan grabbed me and pulled off some kind of fall back, tuck and roll maneuver and I was spared the drink! It was definitely some Indian Jones type shit haha!

After that adventure, we headed back to camp and enjoyed our last sunset over Terlingua.

Big Bend Ranch State park is MASSIVE. Over 300,000 acres and we only cruised along the southern most border of it. The interior is full of hiking and 4×4 trails all accessible by only one 27mile unpaved road in and back out. Most report taking 2 hours just to reach the middle of the park on the main road. It’s likely the most rugged and remote state park in Texas! We were nowhere equipped or had the time for such a side quest, but I would love a trip in one day!

-Lindsay

On the 7th day of the Big Bend Region trip, while still set up at Paisano RV in Terlingua, the Rio Grande had receded enough for us to day trip into Big Bend Ranch State Park. But on the way, we stopped off in the Barton Warnack Visitor Center located at the east end of the park and deemed its own state park by TPWD. Unlike Fort Leaton on the west end of the park, this entrance and visitor center appears to be frequented often and had much larger and elaborate grounds and museum displays. We spent about 30 minutes taking it all in and got some goodies from the park store before moving on.

The luxurious and unique community of Lajitas was another 15 minutes down the road, so we popped into the resort for a look around and pre-hiking drink. I just kept adding to the list of stays for Nathan and I’s future “boujee hotel tour” trip!

-Lindsay