Return to Pedernales Falls - Falls Trail

it was crowded
User: jimmy peace - 3/24/2019  [View Log Page]
Rating: 5stars Difficulty: 3point5stars Solitude: 2stars
Distance: 2.20 Miles Duration: 1 hour

its always crowded, but its that popular

Quiet Day In the Winter
User: texasgrape - 1/28/2019  [View Log Page]
Rating: 4stars Difficulty: 2stars Solitude: 3stars
Distance: 2.00 Miles Duration: N/A

Only saw a few people--quiet day--hiked with granddaughter son and daughter in law on a gorgeous cool day!

View Of The Falls
User: Blaze - 2/14/2016  [View Log Page]
Rating: halfstar Difficulty: 1star Solitude: halfstar
Distance: 0.17 Mile Duration: 16 minutes

Just a short hike to the overlook to the falls.  I've been here several times before so I didn't hike down to the river this time.  Still as beautiful as ever.

Up through the falls
User: Riff Raff - 11/11/2013  [View Log Page]
Rating: 5stars Difficulty: 4stars Solitude: 2stars
Distance: 1.90 Miles Duration: 2 hours, 38 minutes
dry but nice
User: jimmy peace - 9/29/2013  [View Log Page]
Rating: 4stars Difficulty: 3stars Solitude: 3stars
Distance: 3.00 Miles Duration: N/A
hadnt been since before the drought but still nice
Awesome Place!
User: Blaze - 5/10/2013  [View Log Page]
Rating: 4stars Difficulty: 2point5stars Solitude: 3stars
Distance: 9.90 Miles Duration: 4 hours, 36 minutes

I visited Pedernales Falls as a part of a group event and this state park served as our weekend base camp.  I was the first to arrive, so I decided to hike the trail down near the falls.  My intent was to cover all of the trails, but when I got down to the Pedernales River, I found it so scenic that my hike turned into a photography expedition.

I took an informal/unnamed trail along the river towards the falls and, when I arrived at the falls, walked all over the rocks where the water pools and rivers of water flow through curvy, carved out channels.

My solo hike (reflected by the .GPX file) represents only 3.9 miles of the 9.9 total miles.

When the others arrived in the evening, I told some people how impressed I was with the beauty of the falls, so several of them begged me around midnight to take them on a night hike down to the falls.  We walked from base camp down the main road to the falls, but it was so dark you couldn't really see the water from the observation points, but you could hear it.  We took one of the rocky trails down to the falls, but it was difficult to navigate in the dark with nothing but flashlights, so we decided to hike back.  On the way back, we took a wrong turn down the road that leads to the picnic area before we realized our mistake.  We didn't get back into base camp until 2:30am.  Our night hike represents the other 6 miles of the 9.9 total miles.

One other nice thing about this park is, at night, you can see fireflies flying around.  I haven't them for quite some time, so it was nice to see these bioluminescent insects again.

Very Nice Hike!
User: Nocona - 5/18/2010  [View Log Page]
Rating: 5stars Difficulty: 2stars Solitude: 2stars
Distance: 2.50 Miles Duration: N/A

Can be crowded on nice weekends and swimming is limited due to the dangerous nature of the falls.  But it's a lovely area and you can usually find your own spot to sit alone and admire the bluffs and pools.

User: Daniel N - 4/11/2010  [View Log Page]
Rating: 4stars Difficulty: 1star Solitude: 1star
Distance: 2.50 Miles Duration: N/A
Great fun outing
User: Daniel N - 4/3/2010  [View Log Page]
Rating: 5stars Difficulty: 1star Solitude: 1star
Distance: 2.80 Miles Duration: 5 hours

More of a walk than a hike. The falls are beautiful and a great place for a picnic or lazy afternoon.

User: DBrown - 3/13/2010  [View Log Page]
Rating: 3stars Difficulty: 2stars Solitude: 3stars
Distance: 5.00 Miles Duration: N/A

started at the swimming parking area. Down the stairs and picked up an unmarked trail following the southern side of the river. The trail weaves between the flood bank and the immediate bank of the river with frequent ups and downs as well as a few tributary stream crossings. Trammel Crossing (while marked on the map) is less obvious than you'd expect. It looks like a single rapid spanning the width of the river and you have to wade across. the 4 mile loop that it leads to is nice but a little boring. No real elevation gains once you reach the top of the hill and the scenery stays pretty much the same thoughout. If you follow the unmarked trail on the southern side of the river past Trammel Crossing I recommend headin up Mescal Creek. It's a long series of small waterfalls and cascades and is a ton of fun to climb up and around in.

User: ChemGal - 6/13/2009  [View Log Page]
Rating: 3stars Difficulty: 2stars Solitude: 1star
Distance: 1.00 Mile Duration: N/A
Rocky, Beautiful
User: tjbustem - 2/21/2009  [View Log Page]
Rating: 4stars Difficulty: 3stars Solitude: 2stars
Distance: 0.75 Mile Duration: 45 minutes

This trail takes you down to the falls which are very spectacular.  It's well used so expect others to be there.  There are some huge rocks in the falls area which are great for photos.

River Hike
User: caspalding66 - 2/16/2009  [View Log Page]
Rating: 4stars Difficulty: 3stars Solitude: 4stars
Distance: 4.50 Miles Duration: 2 hours, 30 minutes
Short trail, hiked river bed for a few miles, lots of rocks and enjoyable
Wandering the rocks
User: Riff Raff - 8/16/2008  [View Log Page]
Rating: 5stars Difficulty: 4stars Solitude: 2stars
Distance: 1.00 Mile Duration: 1 hour

It's really easy to spend hours here just wandering around the rocks all around the falls area.  Lovely, beautiful place.  It's fun figuring out the puzzle at times of how to get around certain places.  Or I suppose you could just take it easy and stay at the overlook area, but where's the fun in that?

Falls Trail
User: Miles - 6/6/2008  [View Log Page]
Rating: 4stars Difficulty: 3stars Solitude: 5stars
Distance: 2.00 Miles Duration: 1 hour, 30 minutes

Great hike on a hot day. Bring water. The falls were beautiful. Played my Native American Flute, with the falls in the back ground.Great Day!!

A Fun Short Hike
User: mrhackerott - 4/5/2008  [View Log Page]
Rating: 3stars Difficulty: 3stars Solitude: 3stars
Distance: 1.00 Mile Duration: 1 hour, 30 minutes
short hike down to a unique "waterfall"/rapids
User: haggai - 4/6/2007  [View Log Page]
Rating: 5stars Difficulty: 3stars Solitude: 2stars
Distance: 1.50 Miles Duration: 40 minutes

Pedernales Falls provides lots of opportunities to climb around and explore the rock tunnels carved by the Pedernales River.  Although the hike down is a bit steep in places, there are stairs a lot of the way, and my 70-plus-year-old parents had a good time hiking with us.

Very rocky, not much of a trail...
User: msuda - 1/7/2007  [View Log Page]
Rating: 3stars Difficulty: 3stars Solitude: 2stars
Distance: 1.00 Mile Duration: 1 minute
Trail is VERY short then just vanishes. Most people there keep going without the trail and walk around the rocky area exploring the varios pools of water left by the river. When I was here the river was VERY LOW> I t was still only January so maybe it gets higher in the spring?
User: yeiyel - 10/2/2006  [View Log Page]
Rating: 4stars Difficulty: 2stars Solitude: 2stars
Distance: 1.50 Miles Duration: N/A

Beautiful day to see the falls.  The falls were a little slim this day. People were sunning on the rocks of the falls. Will try again.

Fun rock scrambling!
User: Riff Raff - 5/20/2006  [View Log Page]
Rating: 5stars Difficulty: 4stars Solitude: 1star
Distance: 1.50 Miles Duration: N/A
I'd been here once before with my parents, but that was an awfully long time ago. The actual trail is just the beginning here, really. Once you make it down to the falls, you can follow the river up or down to other falls if you don't mind doing a bit of rock scrambling. Only problem sometimes when doing that is finding a path heading back...:-) At any rate, it's an extremely lovely area and I was glad I went here first since I don't think I would have had enough energy for walking around all the rocks later in the day. There are a lot of people around this area though for obvious reasons, so if you need solitude head elsewhere.
Lots of scrambling, great place
User: figment - 4/23/2006  [View Log Page]
Rating: 5stars Difficulty: 5stars Solitude: 2stars
Distance: 1.00 Mile Duration: N/A
I've been here plenty of times before, and I went back today to find a decent amount of water in the river from the recent rains. Couldn't bring the dog over some of the ledges, so we hiked out on the red dirt trail that leads upstream just before you get to the stone overlook patio. Using that trail, you can get to the largest set of falls (the ones at the top) without a lot of scrambling.
Beautiful
User: LVX - 10/15/2005  [View Log Page]
Rating: 3point5stars Difficulty: 1point5stars Solitude: 1point5stars
Distance: 4.00 Miles Duration: N/A
We walked a couple of miles upriver to extend the hike. Very nice day.
Not much water
User: Joefirefighter - 10/7/2005  [View Log Page]
Rating: 3stars Difficulty: 2stars Solitude: 2stars
Distance: 0.75 Mile Duration: 2 hours

Took the kids on this hike in October.  The water level was pretty low, so not much action on the falls, but still plenty of water for them to wade and play in.

User: AshleyNicole - 5/23/2005  [View Log Page]
Rating: 5stars Difficulty: halfstar Solitude: 5stars
Distance: 1.00 Mile Duration: N/A
The heat probably drove most people away, there wasn't anyone in sight when we went to the falls. They're awesome!

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