vind21

I've been here a few times now, great place.

Recently Ive been doing alot of night hiking, the river is low and you can walk a large section of it, one thing no one seems to have mentioned about this place is the bats, like any place in texas there are tons, and its awsome to be sitting in the river bend and camp out as the sun goes down and light alittle citranolla cnadle and watch the bats swarm above your head.

Nice hiking and decent places to camp, I dont wanna hype this place to much cause it can get pretty rough. The terrian on some of the trails isnt that friendly and alot of unmarked trails exsist, some of the trails are marked with nothing more than an orange cone every few hundred yards to let you know you're heading in the right direction.

I wouldn't advise hiking here alone, I saw several snakes and there are loose livestock on the interior "off limits" section of the park that occasionaly find there way to the edges near some of the trails. A 600 pound unhappy cow can be a bit of a surprise.

All in all this is one of my favorite parks and is a great place....but becareful it is pretty undeveloped, makes it better that way I say

thorn

I agree it is rough back in some of those holes. But you have to admit this place is awesome.

__________________
out on the trail hunting for gold and the sound of silence.

Spanno

WARNING! I just clicked on Natan's hyper link and got zapped with a virus. FYI

natedg200202

Sorry about the issues with my website - it got taken over but I have fixed it now.

Nathan

www.nathangriffin.com

FoolHardyHiker

I almost don't want to post anything on this park for fear of bringing more ppl to it ;-)

One of my biggest things I enjoy about primitive camping is getting away from civilization and sitting in solitude, getting back from nature. Much to my dismay, I found out that the park was completely booked when I arrived (I, at least, had a reservation!). I guess that was my fault for not knowing that it was Earth Day!

Well, come to find out that the folks spend most of there time on the river camping sites and don't go very deep into the trails. My buddy and I didn't see a single person after hiking as little as 1/4 mile into the trail to see the falls. What a shame! They missed all the beauty. This park was pictureesque to say the least. We spent most of the time on the Spicewood springs trail and had a great time looking at the falls and the crystal clear water (wear water-proof shoes, or prepare to walk in soggy socks). The trail is very rocky in parts and makes the hike really enjoyable.

If you are looking for seclusion and getting away from civilization, though, don't bother camping along the river (both primitive and non-primitive sites will be within stone's throw of people/houses). We were not able to get out to the windmill area (we hiked about 7 miles before deciding to pitch tent) but I would expect that to be much more secluded.

You will likely see a decent amount of wildlife at this park. We saw armadillos, lizards, snakes (just hatchlings and non-venomous), armadillos, deer, birds, etc.

One last thing to mention.. seclusion or not, you gotta see the Gorman falls. We paid to see this on the way out of the park and was completely worth it. It is almost "rain-forest" like at the base of the falls and looks completely out of place for central Texas. Bring a camera because every picture you take will be a keeper.