DALEoutside

You may recall that I posted a while ago about wanting to stay close to Austin and had inquired about camping at Lake Georgetown. No replies and most of my other inquiries turned up that the facilities are less than stellar, so I dropped that idea. We lucked out and got a spot at McKinney Falls.

How we were blessed with the weather!!!! We hardly broke a sweat all weekend! Got there Friday night about 6:30, so most of the good sites were taken, but we got #40. It's at the entrance to the loop, so we did have a few headlights, but didn't bother us a bit. A very nice and private site very close to the IMMACULATE restrooms. Just restrooms, the shower house was a drive away. I didn't really see any sites that weren't really good, and I remember thinking to myself that if this had been Inks they would have packed in 3 sites where one was at McKinney. Really a very nice park!

We hiked the rock shelter trail and of course looked at the falls. The one big bummer? No getting in the water. Apparently all the rain this spring has caused E-coli levels to be high. At the upper falls a group of boy scouts were jumping in and swimming. While we were watching them the rangers showed up and literally yelled at them "WHAT PART OF NO SWIMMING DID YOU NOT UNDERSTAND!?!?!" It sure is hard to keep kids out of the water and mine were very disappointed we couldn't swim or wade.

The hike and bike trails are really nice and very well maintained. Looks like there's a nice visitors center, but it was closed (? - no money to staff it I guess). Overall, the park and facilities are a 10, but this trip gets a 7 because of the no swimming rule. We'll definitely go back.

As I'm wanting to explore different parks and not repeat yet, I'm thinking about Blanco for our October trip. We may want to venture farther, but with the kids so little (6 and 2) we like to just get there and not have a long drive. But I'll tell you, I got a really nice Texas Parks guide when checking in and OHHHHH so many fantastic parks to visit in this great state of ours! I'd love to say I'd seen them all someday!

So glad to have gotten out as we are now heat-wimps and are on camping hiatus until October!

Turn Key

Lucky you!!! We had wanted to go camping last week but due to both of being ill, it didn't happen. We have a 3-day weekend next week and if the weather doesn't get too hot, we're going to get out one more time before "Super-Summer" sets in. Like you, we're "heat-wimps" as well!

Took a look at McKinney Falls a number of years ago. It sure is a nice park with a lot of nice sites. Have been wanting to get back there for some camping but it just hasn't happened yet.

Kind of surprised about the swimming restriction. Would have thought all the rain would have washed out all the pollutents (sp?). I'm sure the rangers know what's best as they test the water daily, from what I understand.

You mentioned that your thinking about a trip to Blanco for October. You won't go far wrong with that choice. Here's a link to a review I did of that park a couple of years ago. Hope it helps.

http://www.wildtexas.com/talk/showthread.php?t=813

Glad you had a great trip and hope you have many more.

Happy Camping!

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DALEoutside

Thanks Turn Key! I'll check out that review. I ALWAYS read your reviews before deciding where to go!

What they said about the pollutents is that all the rain had washed the bad stuff from farms and ranches upstream into Onion Creek. Dunno...could it be a problem at other rivers around? Hadn't heard this warning about any of our other lovely rivers, but did read about this possibility specifically with this park.

Hope you and DW are feeling better and can head out soon!