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Frank&Mike · 08-22-2016, 07:41 PM

Thought I would post a few photos from this weekend's little trip to Pedernales Falls State Park ... a short 30 minute drive west of Austin, TX. We're fortunate to have so many great places to camp within an hour of Austin ... it's a challenge to decide which place we want to visit.

Frank&Mike · 08-22-2016, 07:44 PM

Lots of deer at the campsite. It is amazing how tame they are ... walking right up to eat out of our hands.

Frank&Mike · 08-22-2016, 07:46 PM

The beautiful flowers are everywhere on the Pedernales Falls. The pink flowers look like little hearts.

Frank&Mike · 08-22-2016, 07:49 PM

We always a enjoy a campfire ...

Frank clowning around in the photos behind our cousins (they went camping with us).

Frank&Mike · 08-22-2016, 07:52 PM

The last of the photos.

Boxite · 08-22-2016, 08:06 PM

Those deer can be real tame...until they're not.
"Tame" deer in Kerrville City Park were being hand-fed by neighboring campers until they ran out of bread. Momma deer then raised up and beat the face to a pulp of her former provider. Those hooves cut him up pretty bad and bloody.
It's illegal in Texas to feed wildlife in State Parks.

rmkrum · 08-22-2016, 08:28 PM

It's illegal many places, and not a good idea under any circumstances elsewhere.

Wild is the first part of wildlife. Assume dangerous...

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Protagonist · 08-23-2016, 09:07 AM

Or to put it another way…

KJRitchie · 08-23-2016, 09:22 AM

Thanks for sharing. We never made it to that state park when we lived in Texas. Texas state parks were our main destinations for weekend trips.

Kelvin

Frank&Mike · 08-23-2016, 11:01 AM

It amazes me how a simple thread opens the door for some people to redirect it in a negative direction. So ... your views on feeding the deer have been clearly voiced ... now ... back to the original intent of the thread.

meschelle · 08-23-2016, 12:28 PM

Great pictures and thank you for the park info, Texas is on our destination list and we will plan a trip to this beautiful area you took the time to shared with us.

Meschelle

riowerks · 08-23-2016, 12:54 PM

Great pictures! I'll have to add it to our list of Texas destinations :-)

KMcLaughlin · 08-23-2016, 12:56 PM

My husband and I moved to Texas this Spring, and were disappointed to find that the State Parks in the Hill country all appeared to be fully reserved for every weekend. We really don't want to camp at private RV parks, but it seems that this is our only option. How far in advance did you make your reservation for Pedernales Falls? This is one of the parks we are interested in visiting. We are quite frustrated after coming from the Rocky Mountain area, where camping is much easier to find.

Kent M · 08-23-2016, 01:15 PM

If you wanna sound like a local in town, do NOT pronounce it Ped-ehr-NAL-iss. Everyone knows it's pronounced Perd-NAL-iss, with a short "a", like Albert's nickname "Al"......

And don't try to argue with any Texan about the PROPER pronunciation, either. You'll be wasting your breath.

Kent
Houston

Prairie Wind · 08-23-2016, 02:35 PM

Nice photo bombs Frank. Ornery much?? Lol!!

The journey is the destination!

1978 Avion 7.9 m

5.9 Cummings Dodge Ram

GailMac · 08-23-2016, 03:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frank&Mike

Thought I would post a few photos from this weekend's little trip to Pedernales Falls State Park ... a short 30 minute drive west of Austin, TX. We're fortunate to have so many great places to camp within an hour of Austin ... it's a challenge to decide which place we want to visit.

Sorry I missed you there at Pedernales Falls S.P. I'll be there tomorrow (24th for 3 nights. Been there several time and love the park.

Longboard6 · 08-23-2016, 03:48 PM

Yeh, 'splain that one , Lucy. We had same experience around Austin in Jan last year. What's the secret? (Oops, I think I just hyjacked the original--great pictures--thread.)

Frank&Mike · 08-23-2016, 07:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KMcLaughlin

My husband and I moved to Texas this Spring, and were disappointed to find that the State Parks in the Hill country all appeared to be fully reserved for every weekend. We really don't want to camp at private RV parks, but it seems that this is our only option. How far in advance did you make your reservation for Pedernales Falls? This is one of the parks we are interested in visiting. We are quite frustrated after coming from the Rocky Mountain area, where camping is much easier to find.

I share your frustration with finding availability in the State Parks when making reservations ... especially those in the Hill Country ... they're very popular. I try to make reservations a couple months in advance for typical weekends ... for holidays you need to make them 11 months in advance (11 months in advance is the farthest out the reservation system will allow reservations). Equally as nice are LCRA (Lower Colorado River Authority) parks ... but they also reserve quickly. Following is the link to LCRA parks:

http://www.lcra.org/parks/Pages/default.aspx

There are also some very nice US Army Corp of Engineer parks in the Austin area. Following is the link to their parks:

http://www.recreation.gov/campground...tByAgencyID.do

InterBlog · 08-24-2016, 05:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KMcLaughlin

My husband and I moved to Texas this Spring, and were disappointed to find that the State Parks in the Hill country all appeared to be fully reserved for every weekend. We really don't want to camp at private RV parks, but it seems that this is our only option. How far in advance did you make your reservation for Pedernales Falls? This is one of the parks we are interested in visiting. We are quite frustrated after coming from the Rocky Mountain area, where camping is much easier to find.

It's a huge problem and it's under-emphasized generally in many discussions as well as publicly (the impossibility of the situation makes Texas look bad, and rightly so). If you want hook-ups, my best suggestion is to keep iterating on the TPWD reservation page to see what you can get - keep trying to reserve on successive weekends out until you see vacancies. You may have to wait a long, long time. The last time I checked Garner State Park, which is about 140 miles from Pedernales and similarly popular, the lead time needed for reservations was 330 days.

If you can live without hook-ups, the options broaden somewhat. Some state parks have overflow areas and if there are no individual spots available, they MAY let you dry camp if they know for sure that you are really capable of doing it without drawing bothersome attention to yourself (no running of generators, for instance; e.g., Brazos Bend State Park has such an area near the main gate, spartan but you can park there if they allow it). Some parks have unserviced equestrian areas - same deal applies, IF they have room and it won't disturb the horse people. But at other parks, overflowing and overnight parking are not allowed under any circumstances (e.g., Stephen F. Austin State Park). One really has to inquire park-by-park, and good luck getting anyone on the phone. Even if you get them on the phone, they are almost always noncommittal.

What I often do is scope an area for its allowable boondocking potential (e.g., nearby Walmarts) and then give 'er the old college try at the park gate within a half hour of closing time, to see if they have had any last-minute cancellations that they could reassign to me. Sometimes it works, and sometimes I have to drive home at night after getting turned away (or to the nearest Walmart). We scored a good one-night site at Dinosaur Valley State Park (about 160 miles from Pedernales) back in March by trying that. It was raining that day and they had a last-minute opening. If I had instead tried to reserve in advance at that park, I would have had to wait until doomsday - too far out to ever be practical with my work schedule.

mimiandrews · 08-24-2016, 06:36 AM

It's hard to say it's a bad thing, but Texas state parks, especially those in the Hill Country, are beautiful, popular, and inexpensive. Weekend reservations sell out 'way in advance.

One good thing about Texas state park reservations is that the cancellation fee is only $5, if you cancel a week in advance. If you can afford to eat the penalty, make reservations 6 months or so in advance for several weekends, then re-evaluate when the time gets closer.

I had reservations for Garner State Park last April and had to cancel at the last minute due to incoming very bad weather. Lost the first day's fee on that one, but it's still only about $25.

I still grumble about my bad luck. I've always wanted to see that park. Oh, well, there's next year.