This past weekend we went camping at Pedernales Falls State Park. We’ve visited here a few times, but never stayed overnight. The park ranger asked if it was our first time there, and since it was, she assigned us to campsite #8. She said it was a nice one but if we didn’t like it we could select another site. Well, campsite #8 was great! In fact, most of the sites looked really nice. Each one had an electric hook-up if you needed it, a fire-ring, water faucet, picnic table, and open area for a tent. Our campsite had an open area underneath the trees, so we pitched our ”castle” back there.
After a lunch of submarine sandwiches and chips, we headed to the falls for some fishing. Of course I had forgotten the nightcrawlers back home, so we had to use some cheese as bait. While we didn’t catch any fish, we had fun climbing around the rocks and dipping our feet in the water. After that we decided to head to the wading/swimming area to cool off. The weather, by the way, was perfect: light clouds and a temp of 80°F. The water was nice and cool, but not too cold. The kids splashed around a bunch, and I had fun making underwater videos.
When we returned to the campsite, we started up the fire and made a great dinner of gyu-don (beef bowl). Cooking rice at the campsite was pretty new to me but is really easy if you have the right cooking pot. We also enjoyed some wine in small containers. They looked like large juice-boxes and were so convenient for discreet consumption at the campsite. After a dessert of smores we retired to the tent and slept well.
The next day we went back to the falls for some more hiking and fishing. We walked up-river and found a lot of cool little fishing holes but unfortunately we were unsuccessful landing any fish, although Mariko had something big on her line at one time. We left the park at about 2pm and headed home, tired but happy. Pedernales Falls is not the most popular state park, but I have to say it was one of the better campsites and had some fun activities. It’s not far from Austin and would make a nice daytrip as well. We will surely come back!
You can check out some more video that I took over at Pedernales Falls at my YouTube Channel, or see more pictures at my Flickr set.