McKinney Roughs

Type: Trail	Rating: (3.70)
Difficulty: (2.60)	Solitude: (3.60)
Length: 15.00 Miles	Elevation Gain: 1450 Feet
ADAAccessible: N/A	Interpretive Guide: Yes
Dogs Allowed: Yes	Bikes Allowed: No
Cost: $3.00	More Information: More Info
City: Bastrop	County: Bastrop

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Topo maps provided by MyTopo.com Larger Map

Getting there: McKinney Roughs is located right on Hwy. 71 between Austin and Bastrop. From Austin, head east on Hwy. 71 past Austin Bergstom International Airport. Proceed for about 10-15 miles and look for the park's distinctive rock wall entrance with windmill on the left. Hiker check in is at the LCRA Office near the main parking area.

The Hike: McKinney Roughs contains the most extensive collection of hiking trails to be found in Central Texas. The official park website mentions over 15 miles of trails, with more planned in the future.

All trails start at the waypoint marked "Trailhead" on the map. The exceptions to this are the two Equestrian trailheads that lie near the northwest and southeast corners of the park (not yet mapped). This main hiking trailhead is behind the red Environmental Learning Center building.

McKinney Roughs includes an extensive learning center and hosts many school groups to teach children about the environment.

The easiest trail in the park, the Ridge Trail is shown on the topo map in blue to make it easy to find. The trail is mostly flat with a smooth surface of crushed granite. Someone was in the process of creating an interpretive trail guide for this path during my last visit and I was able to borrow an advance copy to take along. Unlike many interpretive guides, this one went into some interesting details about the coexistence and synergy between many of the species and plants and animals that call McKinney Roughs home.

Pine needles litter the path of some of the trail. McKinney Roughs is on the edge of the Lost Pines.

The remaining trails are a criss-crossed collection of full and partial loops that provide ways to craft almost any type of hike you could want. The trail surfaces consist of rocky hardpack in the uplands and dirt and occassionally sand along the river's edge.

Most of the tree cover at McKinney Roughs consists of the Juniper-Oak combination that is commonly found throughout the hillcountry to the west. But this land is on the very outer edges of the Lost Pines area and some stands of pine can be found, particularly on the east side of the park.

The trails of McKinney Roughs undulate up and down hillsides.

Flat portions of the trails are often marked by pocket prairies. These spots of open land are a treasure trove of wildflowers. One of the better areas for wildflowers of all varieties was the pocket prairie along the Bobcat Ridge trail just west of the main entrance driveway.

As the trail lowered to the Colorado River the extra moisure fed a thick carpet of greenery.

As trails descend to the river the surrounding vegetation closes in on it. The path narrows considerably and the wildflowers disappear. Instead the ground is covered in a thick carpeting of various grasses, all very green.

The trail follows along the bank of the river for about a mile.

Most of the trails at McKinney Roughs allow for horseback riding. If being near an occassional horse is intimidating you can avoid them alogether by limiting your hike to the Ridge, Woodland, Cypress, Pine Ridge, Valley View and Bluff Loop trails. These total over 5 miles, approximately one third of the park's total trail system.

The Colorado River as seen from the trail.

Don't be afraid of the horses and let a majority of the park go unhiked! When coming up on a horse and rider, stand on the side of the trail motionless and gently chat with the riders as they pass by. As has always been my experience at McKinney Roughs, the riders are friendly and considerate.

Some portions of the paths are old jeep trails.

The trails on some of my visits had an unfortunate trait that I had not anticipated - cobwebs. Lots of them. Spiders find that by spanning a sticky web across a open area like a trail they can capture more frequent meals. What it meant for me was a frequent brushing of my arms and legs to free myself from the web's snare. Eventually I adopted a long branch, which when waved in front of my direction like a royal sceptor cut down on the number of web collisions. But sometimes the method served only to break the silky stand, which willowed in the wind and stuck to the first available object, often my clothes or skin.

No creek crossing on the trail presents any problems and often includes a bridge, such as this one.

Added to the spider webs were catepillar strands. Hanging under oaks like bungee jumpers the little green guys contributed to making the going slow as I tried my best to clear a path. I'm sure that fellow hikers who followed my path later in the day reported far fewer web encounters. Don't let this tidbit scare you. Spring is bound to include more activity with respect to spider webs and catepillar strands. Hiking at different times of the year may avoid this hassle.

Further uphill there are several magnificent views of the Colorado River below. Note the farmland on the flatter land on the opposite side of the river.

A wonderful view of the Colorado River is available at the waypoint "Overlook". The view shows some of the contrasts in the land here. To the right of the river the hilly terrain continues and is heavily forested. On the opposite bank the land is relatively flat and since it is more conducive to being farmed it has been cleared.

The McKinney Roughs trail map does not make any mention of ranch ruins along the trail. According to the information center the property was a working ranch having first been settled by John Wise and his family in the 1850's. The Wise family continued to live on the property up until the 1950's when the family home burned down. The remains of a corral can be seen at the waypoint "Corral" and what may be the location of the Wise home can be found along the trail not too far afterward. All that remains of the home now is a concrete slab and chimney.

Several ruins can be seen along the trail providing clues to the ranching that used to take place here.

Although McKinney Roughs bears the name of Thomas McKinney, there is no proof that he either lived there nor owned any of the land. However, he did own a lumber mill across the river and may have used some of the trees cut down within the boundaries of the current park.

Though somewhat saddened by the sale of the northern half of the park, McKinney Roughs remains a prime hiking destination in the central Texas area. The complex system of trails can be difficult to comprehend in the beginning but provide a plethora of options that allow visitors to set up exactly the kind of hike that they desire.

Photos

This path is along the Riverside section of the trail. The trees are quite dense in this area as you can see. (Photo by schrochem)	On the Cypress trail the path gets pretty twisty b/c it is hiking only. (Photo by schrochem)	These seemed to be placed at trailheads where only hikers were allowed. Evidently, horseriders would have to duck to get past. (Photo by schrochem)
(Photo by seejanplay7)	Colorado River seen from the trail. There is a picnic table here along the banks. (Photo by seejanplay7)	Colorado River access. It is possible to walk out on the rocks here. (Photo by seejanplay7)
Very nice view of the Colorado River from the Overlook. (Photo by Eveline)	Check in here to hike. They require all hikers to register and carry a map. This is a good idea because there are a lot of options to consider. (Photo by wdoud)	Wooden markers like this appear on some trails; they are 100 feet apart. Other (longer) trails have metal markers at 1000 foot intervals. (Photo by wdoud)
Trail junctions and directions are well marked. (Photo by wdoud)	(Photo by wdoud)

Log Entries

Great trails
User: BKanten - 2/20/2010 [View Log Page]
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Distance: 3.25 Miles Duration: N/A

The trails are well done, with a combination of dirt and gravel that makes for easy walking. The difficulty comes in the elevation changes on some portions but nothing too bad. Plenty of plant diversity. We saw some prickly pears putting out fruit, which was neat, and the flowers were starting to appear. Recent rain made for mud on some portions but the good trail bed limited the problems here. Solitude was less than usual because we walked during an organized event (www.ava.org); usually there are few people on the trails. There are a lot of trails and plenty of distance.

park hours wrong on this site
User: sandew - 5/24/2009 [View Log Page]
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Sunday noon to 5. Went to hike on Sunday, at 10am, but not open til noon and with the heat, didn't wait....instead went to Bastrop State Park which was open, just down the road off 71.

Nice enough
User: claireBGC - 5/18/2009 [View Log Page]
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Distance: 3.50 Miles Duration: N/A

We did parts of the Woodland, Ridge, Riverside and Bluestem trails, adding up to about 3.5 miles. There are some nice overlook points and we saw very few people. It was somewhat muddy as it had rained just a couple of days before, but the trails were well marked and maintained for the most part. The Colorado is not the prettiest river to hike along, but overall a good short hike. Very shady for the most part, which would be nice in the Texas summer.

beautiful hike
User: klyevans - 5/13/2009 [View Log Page]
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Distance: 4.00 Miles Duration: 1 hour, 45 minutes

On a Wednesday afternoon I saw no one else on the trails. I followed Riverside down to the river (very hot - not a lot of shade on the down hike), looped around to Bluestem, then hopped on Cypress, and finished up with Bobcat Ridge to Fox Tail back to HQ. Cypress and Bobcat Ridge were beautiful and I was glad to get the strong breeze that blew along the ridge. The only thing is that Bobcat Ridge is really sandy in places, which is tough for hiking.

variety of terrain near the Colorado River
User: haggai - 1/31/2009 [View Log Page]
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Distance: 3.00 Miles Duration: 3 hours

Peaceful forest, nice views of the Colorado River from above, and picturesque river terrain. The kids particularly enjoyed looking at the wildlife tracks and the freshwater clam shells down by the river. And they enjoyed walking around the sand bars revealed by the low-flowing river.

User: stk1618 - 10/18/2008 [View Log Page]
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Distance: 11.00 Miles Duration: 4 hours, 15 minutes

Partially Closed From Fire
User: Riff Raff - 8/30/2008 [View Log Page]
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Distance: 5.50 Miles Duration: 4 hours

Was my first time here, and got a bit of a surprise at the front gate for the main entrance. Apparently fire struck recently, and the southeastern portion of the park is closed at the moment. This includes the Pine Ridge, Whitetail, Bobcat Ridge, Cypress, and Pine Canyon trails as well as the park headquarters itself. The front gate recommended we use the other entrance on Pope Bend Road, so we drove around to the trailhead there instead.

It looks like we ended up taking the Buckeye, Pecan Bottom,Deep Sandy, Riverside, Bluestem, and Road Runner trails. With such an extensive trail system, you really need to keep your trail map out and handy at all times. Even so, I still ended up taking a couple of wrong turns along the way. Extremely beautiful area with very wide varieties of vegetation. Saw several armadillos, deer, and rabbits out and about, along with one large snake sunning itself on the trail. Just a gorgeous area with nice well marked trails. Only saw two people the whole time we were out, and they were near the trailhead.

hidden trail and pond
User: BANDA - 1/15/2008 [View Log Page]
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Distance: 2.00 Miles Duration: N/A

Today I went to the Hwy. 71 Equestrian Trailhead, and discovered a trail and a pond that are not shown on the official map. Just after your turn in, there is a trail that goes off to the right, and it leads down into a small canyon with some pine trees, a small pond, and some picnic tables.

I also hiked the Whitetail trail, which leads past another small pond and the "challenge course".

I didn't see another person the entire time I was on these trails!

more trails
User: BANDA - 1/5/2008 [View Log Page]
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Distance: 10.00 Miles Duration: N/A

We said we would return and we did. This time we hiked the Eastern, Northern, and Western trails. Pecan Bottom, Coyote Rd., and Big Sandy offer some very nice walks with huge old trees and the river to admire, but the atmosphere is altered a bit by views of the Hyatt Regency golf course to the North. Buckeye is a nice hike with several ups and downs along the way.

Yaupon was a bit of a disappointment as about half of it seems to be a pipeline easement, and almost all of it is right next to a road...either Pope Bend Rd., or Hwy. 71, so there is lots of traffic noise along this trail.

Pine Ridge was a very nice hike, and is our favorite in the park so far. It traverses some "knife edge" hilltops and travels along through the pine trees, making you feel as if you are in far East Texas. Nice views of the river valley as well.

Very nice park!
User: BANDA - 12/30/2007 [View Log Page]
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Distance: 5.00 Miles Duration: 3 hours, 30 minutes

We hiked here for the first time today on a beautiful December day. The trails are all in very good condition, lead to some very scenic places, and we saw very few other people. Most of the people we did see were on horseback, and it was fun to talk to them and their horses. We didn't see very much wildlife, but we did hear an owl as we were finishing up our day. We will return!

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