Winter days in Texas make good hiking days: cool (or at least not hot) temps, sunny blue skies, and no bugs. We drove west to Pedernales Falls State Park last weekend to explore and scramble over the exposed rocky riverbed and admire placid green water.

Starved for rain, the Pedernales River lay low in narrow slots and puddles and filled only about two-thirds of the pool at the base of the falls. For scale, those are people walking on the white and gray rocks down there.

See them now? Prone to flash floods, the river can swell in minutes to a raging torrent, as signs warn. If the water grows muddy or starts to rise, you’re advised to run for high ground. I’ve never seen this happen and wouldn’t want to.

Below the falls, a peaceful scene: rugged gray-green hills, a sandy beach, and green water.

Looking up the (mostly dry) riverbed: a massive slab of rippled limestone.

Meringue-like rock, whipped and smoothed by ages of rushing water, makes exploring fun. Small depressions, like potholes, hold a few inches of water from the last rain or river flow.

Some of these even contained tiny fish, marooned, I suppose, when the river dried up.

Water still churns through deeper channels cut through the limestone. Farther upstream, you can see the only cascade that was flowing during this visit.

Scrambling around cliffs we encountered this “forest” of Texas sotols, their faded bloom spikes still held aloft.

The far side of the river always tempts a few adventurous souls to climb up to a round cave with a massive boulder wedged at the back.

This guy, having explored the far side, pondered a wide leap to get back. He decided against it, but later we watched a young man make the jump, after studying it for a good 7 or 8 minutes. Beyond is a cave opening where the water flows under the cliff.

It’s a beautiful, even treacherous place, as beautiful places often are. If you’d like to see more, read two other blog posts I’ve written about Pedernales:

• Winter hike at Pedernales Falls, January 2019
• Falls & fall color at Pedernales Falls State Park, November 2009

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Digging Deeper

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