TX State Park Pedernales Falls State Park

Jay & Valerie · Mar 15, 2015

Located between Dripping Springs and Johnson City, Pedernales Falls is a great place for the outdoor enthusiast and family camper. From south Austin area, it took us about 35 mins to get to the campground. The Campground is clean, most sites have plenty of trees and shade and there are plenty of hiking trails for all levels.

The campground has primitive sites as well as developed sites with Electricity and Water hook ups. The are single car wide but most are deep enough for an RV or Travel Trailer. Some sites are more wide open with sparse tree coverage while others are more secluded with lots of trees. We were in spot 51 which had nice tree coverage and somewhat secluded from other sites.

There are about 70 sites total for the campground but it can fill up quickly so reserving in advance is a good idea. There is wood and ice available for purchase if needed but no local store for grocery items if you forgot anything.

The restrooms are cleaned daily and have shower stalls. They are within walking distance for most sites but they do have a few parking spaces by each bathroom in case you don't want to walk to them.

The park has a number of nature activities for the outdoor enthusiast. There are plenty of hiking trails for all age ranges. Some trails may be physically demanding while others are easy. The walk to the falls is fairly easy with stone steps down to the river front. Though the steps can be a bit steep for the less mobile but no more challenging that your typical stairway in a residential home. However, there are no handrails on those steps. The falls are one of the highlight features of the park and are quite beautiful but this is obviously subject to drought conditions.

Check out the log caught in the tree branch, water can get really high during flash floods.

There are equestrian trails for those that have horses. There is also a bird blind for those that enjoy bird watching. We saw a number of cardinals and several other species though we are far from experts on the subject. There is a swimming area but we did not make it down there to check it out.

The park is also located fairly close to Fredericksburg, a historic and quaint German town with lots of antique shopping, restaurants and history.

Whether this is a good or bad thing depends on your perspective but expect to unplug during your visit there as cell reception was challenging at best in the campsite. We did manage to get 1 bar if we stood in the street in front of our campsite and could get emails/texts as well as make calls but surfing the web is not really an option. So it can be good in that it forces you to enjoy the park more and your electronics less but if you need good connectivity for some reason, you will be challenged to get anything at this park.

Note, that as a state park, alcohol is not permitted.

Overall, this was a very nice park and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a great place to camp and enjoy nature.

See all the pictures we captured here:
Pedernales Falls State Park