While visiting my Mother in Kerrville this weekend I snapped this shot of the cypress trees along Goat Creek turning brown. My Mother hopes they are just going dormant while they wait for rain to return.
Among the conversations I had a chance to ask her about her experience with PUP’s and what she thought of them. I gained valuable information in advance the new year when we plan on purchasing one and are strongly leaning to new (for warranty reasons).
Next weekend (September 3rd, day after wife's birthday) we are probably going to go visit another RV dealership and check out the PUPs and TT (for grins). It will he hard to find a better deal than the one we found at RV Outlet Mall in George Town N. of Austin. The nice thing about this place was how open they are about the costs and what's included (AC and Awnings are included in the cost be default… this is Texas). So far they have offered the best price in the area and being that they are in Austin not to far of a drive either.
I will be posting later about what we saw and my impressions.
First things first.. How the heck do you pronounce that? Ped-er-nal-es.
Pedernales Falls State Park is located approximately 75 miles North of San Antonio and 45 miles West of Austin, TX outside the small hill country town of Johnson City. Pedernales Falls State Park offers all the usual activities including (but not limited to) hiking, biking, swimming, horse back riding, fishing, birding, etc.
Main Attraction:
The main draw at Pedernales SP is the Pedernales River, the falls and the swimming areas down stream. There is no swimming at the falls but it is still a very cool place to hike and climb on the rocks.
Due to water hazards no swimming is allowed at the falls.
The swimming area is a decent walk down a steep bank but the reward is worth it as the water is cool and refreshing. Hiking/biking/equestrian trails wind through the hill country and trammel crossing is a great place to stop and get your feet wet.
Looking down stream from Trammel Crossing.
Quick view of Trammel Crossing.
Camping Facilities:
The park offers 69 standard water/electric campsites as well as a primitive camping area accessible after a 3 mile hike. The campsites are pretty typical and occupy a large loop with a center road dividing the East and West. It is in the center that the camping areas two modest restroom and shower facilities can be found and while they are not large they are very clean and well maintained with private showers and stalls. Most of the campsites have ample shade, a picnic table, hook-ups and a fire pit. The park only offers back in sites, no pull through. Sites 1-16, 36-47, and 54-58, are the farthest from the facilities while sites 31-36 are closest to the trail that offers river access.
Standard W/E campsite.
Facilities:
Restroom facilities are well maintained and clean featuring solid shower doors. The only real negative was that the facilities where small and the dry side of the shower was not very dry with no bench and only a small hook to hang items.
Personal Experience:
This was our second camping trip of the year and the first time that we had any rain (thunderstorm in fact). Everything went really well and we stayed perfectly dry with the only downside being the noise (rain on a PUP can be LOUD!). I am not sure how it happened but instead of going swimming we ended up falling asleep for a few hours on the second day (I blame the foam mattress topper that made the bed much more comfortable). Lucy (the Wiener Dog) also did really well and we dubbed her Lucy the Adventure Wienie.
From 2012 (During bad drought):
The next stop was the swimming area along the river that is accessed by a ¼ mile walk down a well maintained trail that included rock steps and a short board walk down to a sandy beach. The river is lined by many large Cypress and other trees that offer plenty of shady spots to relax. Despite the low condition of the river a few families still found deep pools and areas to swim while the cool water sparkled thorough the shallows.
The beginning of the trail down to the river and the stone steps at the bottom. Despite everything the rivers cool water sill carves its way through the Texas Hill Country.
Pedernales has always been one of my favorite parks ever since I was a young boy in the Scouts and despite my many visits I have never actually gone swimming. Most of my time is usually spent at the falls and while we didn’t visit this time around I figure I should include a couple pictures from a previous trip when it was flowing well.
Water pouring through one of the many chutes at the falls & one of the pools (photos 2010)
I realized that this site is going to be about more than just camping and probably encompass a large amount of outdoors activities so I made some changes to the title and web address. As I continue to mess with things the layout of this blog will change until I feel that I have found the right one. Please feel free to send any feedback to me via the comments section below.
Made this short video while we visted Mustang Island State Park. I had intended to include it as part of the review but had some issues with getting everything to encode right.
Park Name and Information
Mustang Island State Park 1704 State Hwy 361
Port Aransas, TX 78373
(361) 749-5249 Google Maps Link to Location of Park
Brief Description/Location of Park
Mustang Island State Park is located on Mustang Island about 25 miles from down town Corpus Christi, 13 miles from Port Aransas and 167 miles from San Antonio and is one of 2 coastal State Parks in Texas offering easy beach recreation (the other being Galveston Island State Park near Houston). The park covers 3954 acres with the 5 miles of beach being the highlight and most visited portion of the park.
Main Attraction
View of the Gulf from our day use area.
The main attraction of Mustang Island SP is without a doubt the Gulf of Mexico or more specifically the beach. During this trip the water was clean, seaweed was next to nonexistent (this does change) and the breeze was wonderful. There is of course more to the park than swimming in the gulf, perhaps take a pair of binoculars, camera or video camera and engage in bird and wild life watching. If simple observation is not your thing pack your kayak, surf board or bring along a mountain bike and ride the 5 miles of coast line. From swimming and sun bathing to hiking and biking there is something for everyone who loves the coast.
Day Use
Our day use set-up on the beach.
One of my favorite aspects of Mustang Island SP is that when the conditions are right you may drive your vehicle down on the beach for both camping and day use. On our trip we backed right up to the beach leaving about 15-20ft between our setup and the waves. With several miles of beach available this park can accommodate more people than most state parks when the beach is open to traffic however if for some reason the beach is closed to traffic the parks much smaller asphalt parking lot will reduce the number of visitors allowed into the park. One thing to consider when using the park for day use is food and water. The nearest store is located 5 miles away on Padre Island so a well stocked ice chest is highly recommended and please do not forget a good strong sunscreen.
Camping Facilities
RV ready campsites with water and electric.
There are 2 kinds of camping at Mustang Island SP, primitive and w/hookups. For primitive camping you will literally be pitching your tent on the beach (though we did see one PUP w/generator parked down on the beach, sorry I didn’t have my camera with when we walked by it about ½ mile down the beach from us). The camping area with hook-ups is located on the opposite side of the dunes from the beach and is very simple and pretty cramped. I personally would not enjoy camping here and believe that this park will remain a park for day use only. That of course is my own personal opinion and you may feel otherwise, maybe one day when we have a PUP or TT of our own that opinion may change but that is a little ways down the road yet.
Restroom/Shower Facilities
Ehh…. I’m not going to lie, the facilities where pretty bad. One facility is shared for the entire park, 6 showers (3 men’s 3 women’s) downstairs with pretty poor privacy. Upstairs the restrooms are a little better but if compared to say Inks Lake SP (a pretty high standard) they were still pretty sad. Folks in RV’s that have their own facilities probably fair better but for those that use the public facilities be prepared. On the beach you will find porta potties and rinse off stations every so far, this in itself was adequate for most people.
Conclusion
Overall Mustang Island SP is a great park for day use that allows you to set up right on the beach and enjoy the beautiful surf. Campers who look for a little shade and a bit more privacy may want to stay clear of this one but if you don’t mind it this may be a decent place to camp as well though I would highly recommend the off season after school has started.
Would I recommend this park? Personally I would for day use only.
The weekend before last we headed to Austin because tropical storm Don ruined our plans to go to the beach. Of course the storm turned into a dude and didn’t deliver any of the rain we needed but the trip to Austin was interesting.
There were two things we wanted to do while we visited one was to look at pop-up campers (more on this later) and the other was to visit McKinney Falls State Park.
This State Park is within the city limits of Austin though once inside the park it does not feel like it. This McKinney Falls State Park offers a large amount of camping, great fishing spots, long winding bike and hike trails and a swimming hole at the falls, it is a do all park.
The first matter of business was to explore by vehicle, this involved us checking out all the campsites, facilities, parking access and so forth. The camping spots offered back in and pull through pads to accommodate large RV’s as well as an area of primitive camping for those who like to rough it a little. The facilities are what you would expect from a State Park, clean but could be better (not as good as Inks Lake State Park but not as bad as some of the private parks I remember).
The second thing we did was check out the day use area, swimming holes, fishing holes and some of the trails. We parked at the upper falls and walked down the short trail to the swimming area. Despite the falls being just a trickle there where quite a few people swimming, I took the picture below while trying to avoid getting to many folks in the frame.
McKinney Falls Upper
We then walked further back along the day use area to take a look at the fishing areas
Onion Creek has been affected by the 2011 Texas drought just like all the other water sources, its low, very low, but flowing.
We followed the trail all the way down to the primitive camping area that was right alongside Onion Creek before turning around and heading back to the falls and then our car. As my wife and I climbed into the car we both decided that this would be a place we would camp at once the weather was a bit more favorable and hopefully after we get some rain.
Would I recommend this park? Yes
Like I said in the previous post it was hot… We headed to Marble Falls to visit Wal-Mart and to get some car AC. While at Wal-Mat we picked up a $50 shade canopy and, here is the kicker, a $100 AC window unit. What I figured that during the day we could cool off by swimming and seeing the sights but at night we needed something a little more. We picked up a few more small odds and ends and headed back to the park.
Once back at the park first priority was to get the shade canopy up so that we had a decent place to sit outside. It took about 10 minutes to set up the canopy for the first time, (I don’t see it taking more than 5 minutes in the future) it was instant relief. With that done the next order of business was to figure out a way to AC the tent. Now our tent had 2 doors so I took the door we were not using, opened it just enough for the AC to fit in, placed the AC, zipped it up as tight as I could and turned the AC on. The sun was still out so the AC couldn’t do much yet so we waited to the sun started going down. During this time I made some adjustments to get the AC off the ground then before it got dark we went for a swim, came back and made hot dogs then turned the AC on.
Surprisingly the AC worked rather well despite the fact that the tent had a large mesh roof. That night we slept rather comfortably and woke in the morning feeling rested. The rest of the camping trip went well; we canoed, swam, grilled, fished and went for long evening strolls. When the trip was all said and done and the morning for us to pack up and head home dawned we were both sad and happy for this 1st trip to be over. Sad that it ended but happy that we had a chance to recoup, take our lessons learned and apply them forward and begin planning our next trip. With all of our gear packed up we began the drive back down HWY 281 to San Antonio stopping once at Chili’s for some lunch.
Next step is to take advantage of the State Park pass and visit as many parks as we can to decide what where we want to camp next.
It all began in the weeks leading up to our 4 year anniversary and the conundrum of what we were going to do. Sometime during our planning my wife suggests we go camping and thinking it was a joke I just kinda laughed it off. Well a short time went by and the subject came up again and this time I had to ask, are you serious? You know we got married in the summer right? Yes she was serious and truthfully I loved the idea. I use to camp a great deal in my youth and loved the thought of being out in nature again but at the same time I am realistic. Neither of us are teenagers anymore and this is vacation, we want a certain level of comfort while we are out there.
So we started planning, listing out items and setting a budget that would not break us. I started visiting places like Academy and Wal-Mart during lunch to get a basic idea of what we would need (seeing as we had “0” camping gear this was almost everything.Eventually and with the list made we headed and started purchasing supplies. Tent, camp stove, lights, canopy, chairs, utensils, and other odds and ends. In total we spent about $500.00 dollars on gear (I consider this an investment since 90% of it was reusable) and considered ourselves ready.
The night before we were to leave for the campground I carefully laid out all the items we would be taking in the garage and took and inventory and then piece by piece loaded them into the car (that had itself already been inspected and deemed ready for the trip). With the car loaded with everything except for what we needed in the morning we settled in for the evening then went to bed. In the morning we ran into no issues, the preparation we had taken before made the morning smooth and enjoyable. We cleaned up, jumped in the car, got some tacos and made the 2 hour drive to Inks Lake State Park in Burnett County, Texas.
When we arrived everything went pretty smooth, the tent was set-up, camp lay out was well organized, the only downside was that our campsite had ZERO shade, none, nada, zip… Oh I mentioned canopy earlier yah I meant a tarp and poles and they didn’t work so well. So it was hot, let me rephrase that, it was HOT as $%(*$#. We went for a swim to cool off and came back to eat lunch and it was just shy of miserable. We ate our sandwiches in what little shade the oven of a tent offered us then jumped in the car and headed to Marble Falls.
