Our Weekend Adventure
Pedernales Falls State Park, TX
This park took me by surprise. Little had I known that the falls' elevation from the river drops about 50 feet over a distance of 3,000 feet, the falls formed by the flow of water over a tilted stairstep effect of layered limestone. My pre-vision of the falls were more like a drop of 3,000 feet over a distance of 50 feet!
This state park is approximately 32 miles west of Austin. The four girls and I took the Pedernales Hill Country Nature Trail which brought us to a lookout over the vast distance of the falls. We felt adventurous and set out on an untravelled trail that let us down to the riverbank about 1/4 mile downstream from the falls area. We walked over sandy and rocky areas along the river anticipating the falls ahead. We reached a bright sandy river beach and stopped to look and observe what was suddenly in front of us. I can describe it as a huge slanted slab of limestone (3,000 feet)carved with shallow and deeper pools, caves and powerful rages of water flowing between grooves within the large rock. There were two visible "falls" where the water ran down the slabs of rock like a huge water slide. Quite dangerous I might add, for the current was strong and some undercurrents could take you atow into the various waterformed caves. Up ahead in one spot right off the riverbank water flowed from deep in the ground up to a little formed pool draining into the river below. The girls were amazed at this naturally, "Where does the water come from?" they awed and wondered.
Aja, my 21 month old was in her own little world, enjoying the water and sand. All of us laid down on our backs on the sloping rock and basked in the winter sun, laughing and talking, as girls do.
Hike Rating (out of 5 stars): 
