McKinney Falls State Park

Austin, Texas - Texans are known for their Texas Pride. I am a native Texan, and I am just bursting with Texas Pride. The simple size of our great state offers a tremendous diversity in geographical formations. Traveling east to west through the middle of Texas you will start in lush green forests followed by rolling hills and ending in a dessert. Thankfully, many treasures are being preserved, maintained and rehabilitated by Texas State Parks and Wildlife. Visiting the Texas Parks and Wildlife website http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/ you will find all sorts of information including information about hundreds of state parks. This week we visited McKinney Falls State Park in Austin, Texas.

We are visiting family in the Austin area and were looking for something close and cheap. Woo Hoo, McKinney Falls State Park fit the bill perfectly. It is located in south Austin near the airport just a 10 minute drive down Hwy 71 and I-35 to Hwy 183 to McKinney Falls Drive. It was a cheap $5/adult to enter for a full day. Then we enjoyed exploring, fishing and just simple family fun.

The park has preserved the ruins of some of Thomas McKinney's homestead. Thomas McKinney was one of the first 300 settlers in Texas. The park has a visitor center full of interesting historical information. The park offers a number of trails and easy access to the "Upper Falls" where you can swim.

We spent all of our time at the Upper Falls in the swimming hole. We did very little hiking, but we did have a lot of fun watching fish and turtles and listening to birds and bugs. We swam and threw rocks, lots of rocks. The good and the bad of it....the good being a Friday, work day, we had the swimming hole almost completely to ourselves. The bad, Texas is experiencing some massive and serious drought conditions and poor McKinney Falls is suffering. What normaly is a spread of falls across a massive rock has dwindle down to one trickling fall. The rock is still really interesting and easy to view since it is not under water, but you can tell the area is suffering.

We had a great day and enjoyed this tranquil spot. Bonus being a State Park, there were bathrooms, picnic tables and trash cans readily accessible. We recommened McKinney Falls State Park.

Oh yeah, if you are a bike rider, I understand they have an extensive hike and bike trail which looks like at least part of it is paved. It looks like a great place for entire families to ride together.

Trip Stats:

• Who: Mama, one 10 year old boys and one 5 year old boy
• What: McKinney Falls State Park, http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/mckinney_falls/
• When: Friday, late morning through mid afternoon
• Where: Austin, Texas (Texas Hill Country)
• Why: Outdoor play (swimming & hiking)
• Cost: $5.00 per adult