Commons Ford - Waterfall Trail

Type: Trail	Rating: (3.93)
Difficulty: (2.52)	Solitude: (4.04)
Length: 1.25 Miles	Elevation Gain: 420 Feet
ADAAccessible: N/A	Interpretive Guide: No
Dogs Allowed: Yes	Bikes Allowed: Yes
Cost: Free	More Information: More Info
City: Austin	County: Travis

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Larger Map

Commons Ford's Waterfall trail is a short, but sometimes challenging hike into a densely wooded hillside. (Click on map for larger view) (Click on map for larger view)
Maptech® USGS Topographic Series™, ©Maptech®, Inc. 603-433-8500, www.maptech.com/topo Copyright 2000 Maptech, Inc.

Getting there: From MoPac in Austin, head west on FM 2244. Continue west on FM 2244 through the intersection with Capital of Texas Highway. Aproximately 3.5 miles after that intersection turn right on Cuernavaca Drive and then turn left on Commons Ford Road. Continue down this road for and look for the entrace to the park on the left. Parking is along the shoulder of the road. Look for a brown wind gauge and antenna on the left for an indication of where to park.

The Hike: Commons Ford Park was something of a mystery when we first found out about it. We had hopes of miles of trails and few people to disturb a peaceful hike. In some ways the park and the Waterfall Trail did not live up to those expectations. However, we found that we enjoyed the trail immensely.

Much of the trail is heavily wooded with Junipers, Oaks and other trees.

This hike follows a creek up stream where it emerges from the hills and empties into Lake Austin. At only a mile round trip it packs a lot of sights and sounds in a short trip. The trail begins at the waypoint "Trailhead". Like other Commons Ford trails parking here is anywhere along the shoulder of the road. Follow the well worn dirt path south for a short distance and it will suddenly become rocky and covered with trees and plants.

This small creek is carving the Commons Ford valley and providing some pleasant waterfalls. We're happy to report that the water appeared to be very clear.

The trail for much of its length is rocky though for the most part not terribly rough. There are a couple of stream crossings, none of which posed a problem as the stepping stones put in place by others were more than adequite to get across the trickling waters.

A more significant flow of water became evident near the waypoint "Waterfall 1". The sound of flowing water can be heard well before it is seen. The waterfall here is not very large but it does produce a nice soothing sound. The creek runs into a slab of igneous rock here which it flows over. The rock surface has been carved by the water to resemble the curves and pitholes reminiscent of Sculpture Falls along Barton Creek.

Did we mention that the trail is heavily wooded? Note that there were a lot of broken branches along the trail.

The remnants of a fence line can be seen here as it crosses the creek and continues up the slope on the opposite bank. This line does not mark the park boundary and so must be a relict of the property's ranching past.

The trails pulls away from the creek slightly as it continues south. As it does so it also gains altitude. There is little strenuous vertical gain. The change is altitude is mostly felt by the views of the steeper slope beneath the trail. Although some spots along the trail are a little narrow, the danger of falling down the hillside is remote. The trail is well positioned along the slope of the hill overall.

The waypoint "EF" marks the location of the Enchanted Forest geocache. There was not enough room on the map for the full name to be printed. This tough one is located on a ridge looming over the Waterfall Trail. We won't give away too much but plan your route up to the cache location carefully as the choice you make can determine how tough the ascent to the cache is.

Occassionally the trail breaks into an opening, providing for some views of the hills.

By the time you near the area of the Enchanted Forest cache you'll have heard the call of the trail's biggest draw - it's main waterfall. Of course if you hike during a particularly dry spell this may not be the case. During our December trip the falls did not disapoint.

The falls at the "Waterfall 2" waypoint are taller than it's downstream companion so it produces a richer sound. Like the waterfall encountered earlier the water runs into a large slab of rock that withstands weathering better than the looser rock around it. At this point it looked like the end of the trail and really it was, though we found a way to extend the trip and find some great valley views. Turn around here for a shorter hike.

This pleasant multi-waterfall appears to be the end of the trail, but not entirely.

If you'd like to see more of the park look to the right of waterfalls rock slab. There is a way to climb up on top of the falls. From here a short path leads to water before it falls over the rock ledge. Here one can observe more rock patterns carved by the relentless flow of water.

On top of the ledge there appears to be a continuation of the trail on the opposite bank. By using the highpoints of the rocks carved surface it's possible to get across the stream without getting your feet wet. The trail continuation scrambles up a short but steep slope and then quickly disappears. However, the foliage here turns slightly less dense. The juniper is more spaced out with grasses in between. This provides plenty of room to continue straight up the slope of the hill. In some places there appears to be evidence of a fire having raged through this section of the hill some time in the past, which would explain the sparse sprinkling of the highly flammable junipers.

By hiking along the clearings on the opposite bank one can catch glimpses down the creek valley and cliffs on the far lake shore.

As we hiked up the hill the sparse tree coverage provided great views down the creek valley back towards Lake Austin. In some cases we could see the cliffs on the opposite shore of the lake. These great views made the extra effort to get to this point worthwhile. As you continue up the hill the tree coverage grows more dense and eventually the prospect of squeezing between junipers branches outweighs the curiosity of what's further up hill. As it turns out that's just as well since the trail was nearing, but not yet leaving the boundary of the park at the waypoint "Turnaround". At this point we headed back down the hill and back to the trailhead.

The geocache that was placed in this park provides a way of describing the environment. In many ways it does appear to be an Enchanted Forest. The hour and a half that we spent hiking the trail was enchanting indeed.

This is the main attraction of the Waterfall Trail. It was a little on the low side when we visited in Feb 2009, but still nice to see. (Photo by androidmatten)	Pools of standing water, trapped above the waterfall. (Photo by androidmatten)	We mused that the forest at this time of year looks like Sleep Hollow. If it were evening, we'd be looking out for the sound of clip-clopping hoofs in the distance... (Photo by androidmatten)

This is the main attraction of the Waterfall Trail. It was a little on the low side when we visited in Feb 2009, but still nice to see. (Photo by androidmatten)

Pools of standing water, trapped above the waterfall. (Photo by androidmatten)

We mused that the forest at this time of year looks like Sleep Hollow. If it were evening, we'd be looking out for the sound of clip-clopping hoofs in the distance... (Photo by androidmatten)

Logs

Have you visited this location? What did you think of it? Submit your own log entry to let others know of your experiences and to keep track of your adventures.

Peace & Solitude
User: cancan1959 - 1/2/2010 [View Log Page]
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Distance: 1.50 Miles Duration: N/A

There was no one else on the trail with us. We crossed the creek and followed a path or stuck as close to the creek as possible, ending back up at the parking area just below the historic log cabin. Creek was low, no real waterfall, just the sound of running water, which is super.

Nice hike, few people.
User: epowell - 9/20/2009 [View Log Page]
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Distance: 1.50 Miles Duration: 2 hours, 30 minutes

Hiked this on a humid Sunday. There are 3 geocaches near the trail, we visited two of them.

Good Hike
User: Lindey - 5/2/2009 [View Log Page]
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Distance: 3.50 Miles Duration: 2 minutes

Good easy hike with 6 and 4 yr old. Lots of adventure and not too too difficult for the little ones. Water falls were really flowing with the recent rains. Great park!

Pleasant mini trek
User: androidmatten - 2/16/2009 [View Log Page]
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Distance: 1.30 Miles Duration: 45 minutes
If you head north from the parking area, you'll end up at the manicured recreation area with a volleyball net and boating dock. This would be great for a family reunion or picnic, but it's a separate destination from the waterfall trail.

The "waterfall" trail, which is south of the parking area, is very short and easy. You have to head down the road in a generally west direction to find the trailhead. We had the whole trail to ourselves on the way in, but crossed paths with about 20 young Cub Scouts and their parents on the way out (happily). I joked to one of the parents that it was "perfect timing."

The water was very low, making the waterfall more of a water trickle. It was still fun to look around and hang out, but there is pretty much only one opening at the end of the trail, so had we be just an hour later, it would have been one big happy family with the Cub Scouts and us. That is to say, this is not like Sculpture Falls, where there are numerous nooks and crannies to sequester yourself away. Still, very much worth it for a quick "do."

No One There
User: bspross - 6/29/2008 [View Log Page]
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Distance: 3.00 Miles Duration: 1 minute

I've lived in Austin for 16 years and I've never heard of this place. It was terrific. There was no one there. We saw a few people on the river, but no one in the park. It could have been because we got there at 9:00 on a Sunday and the park does not open until noon for cars. We just opened the gate and walked in. The falls was not a falls because there was no water but the hike was terrific.

There is also a great area for picnics. This is a spectacular park in the middle of town. I highly recommend it and I will be back.

Very interesting hike
User: rainwatter - 6/26/2008 [View Log Page]
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Distance: 1.00 Mile Duration: 20 minutes

Little Watterdrop and I took this path after exploring the easier Pecan Grove trail. We made it to the first set of falls before we realized that 1. the creek bed was all dried up (makes the waterfall significantly less interesting) and 2. it was getting late and I didn't want to get caught by the 6pm gate, or stuck in traffic on my way back home. What we saw was very interesting, extreamly secluded, with lots of interesting flora and fauna. We found a small patch of water isolated in the creekbed with about 100 tadpoles of various species. The sound made by the Cypurs (?) branches in the wind was chilling, like something out of a horror movie. We will try this again when we have had some rain in the area.

User: jessforeman - 4/19/2008 [View Log Page]
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Distance: 3.00 Miles Duration: 1 hour

User: christina02l - 2/24/2008 [View Log Page]
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Distance: 1.50 Miles Duration: 1 minute

User: mbentley - 4/1/2007 [View Log Page]
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Distance: 2.00 Miles Duration: N/A
I returned to this park to hike up to the waterfalls. I suspect I went beyond the regular trails, as I was off trail and in the brambles a lot. Pretty park, and even though the parking lot was full, I saw only 7 people on the trails in 1 1/2 hours.

cool place
User: mbentley - 3/18/2007 [View Log Page]
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Distance: 0.50 Mile Duration: N/A
I looked around this place to locate trails, but I did not go to the end of the trail.

User: lancescape - 11/26/2006 [View Log Page]
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Distance: 3.50 Miles Duration: N/A

Few others
User: Austin Explorer - 6/4/2006 [View Log Page]
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Distance: 1.35 Miles Duration: N/A
Of all the times I've been on this trail I've only seen other people a couple of times. Most seem to be interested in other parts of the park away from the trail. Today I was searching for a couple of caches in the park, so I went back and forth in search of them instead of hiking the trail from start to finish.

A nice hike.
User: Falchion - 1/14/2006 [View Log Page]
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Distance: 3.00 Miles Duration: N/A
We went hiking on a Saturday afternoon. Once on the trail, we didn't see a soul. The hike was easy, until we decided to go off the trail, but overall it was very fun place to hike. It would probably have been even more enjoyable if it wasn't for this lousy drought. There was only a trickle of water at the first fall and none at the higher waterfall. I'll have to make it back there during a wetter time.

Beautiful Hike
User: oneotedsloth - 4/4/2005 [View Log Page]
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Distance: 1.25 Miles Duration: N/A
We traveled a little off the beaten path which proved to be very rewarding. Both waterfalls were amazing.

Great warm day, nice hike
User: enhance - 1/11/2005 [View Log Page]
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Distance: 1.25 Miles Duration: N/A
I took my time with this hike and made very little noise going through the woods. I didn't see any wildlife, but it was a beautiful trail. The waterfalls were bad ass.

Fabulous day exploring
User: Shylock and Fiona - 6/12/2004 [View Log Page]
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Distance: 3.00 Miles Duration: N/A
This was the most fun we had on a hike since moving to Austin from Santa Barabara,CA. Did all 3 area Geocaches. Fiona didn't want to leave the park, there's so much to explore here. Wonderful solitude, cool waters, and of course the amazing display of Texas wildflowers. We'll be coming back here often.

Only saw parked cars.
User: Centex Trekker - 6/14/2003 [View Log Page]
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Distance: 0.50 Mile Duration: N/A
The trail is very rocky; no mud problems.

Romantic hike!
User: Lindsey206 - 4/27/2003 [View Log Page]
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Distance: 2.00 Miles Duration: N/A
We only ran across 3 other couples at this park and there was no one on the waterfall hike. It's kind of hard to find the start of the hike. Once you park, instead of heading toward the picnic area, head the opposite way. You'll see a wind gauge on your left and you can kind of make out a small trail.....follow that back into the woods. The water is so clear and beautiful at the falls.

Nice trail, but short
User: figment - 4/20/2003 [View Log Page]
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Distance: 1.50 Miles Duration: N/A
This trail would be a nice end to a picnic down by Lake Austin, there are two small waterfalls along a nice creek. Would be great on a sunny day, because there is a lot of shade.

Very Peaceful Waterfalls, Good Lake Walk
User: woodrg0 - 4/15/2003 [View Log Page]
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Distance: 3.00 Miles Duration: N/A
When we arrived we had a bit of a hard time finding the actual Waterfall trail, so we hike down by the lake for about 3/4 mile. We then found the Waterfall trail on the loop back to the car and ascended through great tree cover. This would be a great hike during the late summer, as wading in the pool by the watefall would provide a great midway point before descending.

Short but worth it.
User: dubya - 4/1/2003 [View Log Page]
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Distance: 1.75 Miles Duration: N/A
Was doing the geocache today. The info, maps, and waypoints here gave me the extra confidence I needed. Only a couple of steep spots were a bit challenging. I'll be back sometime to explore the rest of the park. Saw at least a dozen people in the park, but none while on this trail. Thanks!

Hmmmm.
User: nocman - 10/12/2002 [View Log Page]
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Distance: 1.25 Miles Duration: N/A
Not to impressed with this hike today. Few fallen trees around and the really good point was there were tons of old cedar sumps that I took pictures of.. Other then that, I was prob. the only person at the park.

Greate Family Hike
User: kwkelly - 2/25/2002 [View Log Page]
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The Trail head is not well marked but once we found the trail we had a great time. My three year old daughter asked to go hikeing again as soon as we finished!