We spent my wife’s and son’s 2021 spring break at the South Llano River State Park. After a five-night stay, I would rank the park – and the general area – near the top of our family trips within Texas.
Beautiful views of the South Llano River and the Texas hill country, along with more than 20 miles of hiking trails, a smaller RV campground, as well as a primitive hike-in campground meant that we were able to enjoy pretty much all of our typical outdoor activities in a single week.
The park is also a member of the International Dark-Sky Association, so you have outstanding views of the stars on clear nights. The campground also has signs posted that urge campers to keep their exterior lights to a minimum. Some did better than others and, on the whole, we felt the campground was slightly darker than most. This made for great stargazing each night. The stars were significantly more impressive “live” than the images below suggest, since all we had to try and capture the night sky was an iPhone using it’s three-second aperture setting.
We stayed in site 8, which we would definitely choose again – though we noted many nice sites that we would have been happy with on our next visit. Our site was two spots away from the restroom, and roughly halfway down the loop, between the entrance and a parking area next to a trail access point where the one-way road starts to curve back around toward the entrance.
Our first full day, we paddled up a roughly three-mile section of the South Llano River to visit a hidden gem on the river. While it was a lot of work to get there, with lots of dragging our kayaks up-stream through low water sections and rapids, we finally reached our destination: a beautiful waterfall that spans the entire river and has a deep swimming hole at the base.
Typically, I would share exactly how to replicate this paddling trip. However, as I was researching the river for paddling sections, those who posted photos or videos of their visits to this part of the river never mentioned where it was. There’s a sense of wanting to keep the area pristine, I think, and I want to honor that tradition / sentiment.
So, I’ll just say that this is an up-and-back trip (roughly six miles round trip) that requires lots of effort and a good bit of time (it took us about five hours, including the time we spent at the waterfall). It is on the South Llano River southwest of the state park.
While the waterfall was certainly the star of this kayaking trip, there was a lot of gorgeous scenery throughout the paddle. And the rapids that made the up-river portion difficult to navigate were a lot of fun to paddle through when heading down the river.
In addition to the waterfall paddling trip, we kayaked the official paddling trail on the South Llano River. It starts at the bridge near the state park entrance and ends at a park in Junction, Texas, a town of around 2,500 that is a roughly 12-minute drive northeast of the state park. Additional details about the put-in and take-out for this paddling trail are available here. One item to note is that there is a large tree laying across the river about one mile from the park bridge put-in that you’ll want to portage. There are a few other tight sections where you have to navigate near fallen trees, so be sure to stop and scout whenever you’re unsure of what is ahead.
The paddling trail is a little over six miles in length, which took us just under three hours to complete. Due to our sore muscles from the waterfall trip, we maintained an easy pace, so this could be done a little quicker. At the end, you cross under the Main Street bridge in Junction, exiting either to the left at the city park or to the right at the county park.
I’d recommend leaving your vehicle at the county park, since it has a nicer bank for exiting the river. There are also two sets of playground equipment at this park, so you could plan to end your paddle around lunchtime and enjoy a picnic / playtime in the park.
If you don’t want to bring two cars to shuttle yourself on the point-to-point river paddles, there is a local restaurant (Paddler’s Porch) that rents kayaks and canoes, and they also offer a shuttle service to several put-in locations along the river.
For those without boats, the first three-quarter mile stretch of the paddling trail is a section many people float using tubes. You put your tube in at the bridge near the park entrance (see below) and you exit at the sign on the riverbank, with a short walk to a parking area.
Tubes can be rented from the park store, or you can bring your own. Also, this is a perfect stretch of river to introduce younger children to kayaking / canoeing, as they can practice going through a few small “rapids” and have some calm segments to work on their paddling stroke and technique.
The remainder of our time at the park was a combination of hiking the trails, attempting (unsuccessfully) to catch a fish at a small lake near the river (Buck Lake), sitting by the river enjoying the view (and the outstanding sunsets!), and backpacking to the primitive campground for an overnight stay.
There’s really something for almost anyone’s interest(s) at this park. You can do several shorter hikes in the portion of the park nearest to the river, with longer hikes available in the backcountry section. All of the trails are well-defined with excellent signage, so there is no way you could get lost if you stay on the trail and have one of the park’s trail maps. We did the scenic overlook trail (1.2 miles round trip) as a family the first morning, which was a great first hike to view the surrounding area.
My wife hiked out to the primitive camping area and back one afternoon while I rested with our son, so that we had a preview of the trail and site options for later in the week. The next afternoon, I carved out a few hours while my wife and son were resting to do a roughly 4.5-mile hike, and I look forward to going back again and doing a few longer hikes. The park boundary trail takes you to one of the highest portions of the park, so I diverted slightly from my route to climb the steep hill to see the view. The picture below doesn’t do justice to the view from the top — it was also a surreal (and very pleasant) experience to only hear a few birds chirping and no other people or vehicles.
I look forward to a return trip to hike the entire park boundary trail (4 miles total) and to string that trail together with a few more to create a hike in the 8-10-mile range. You can find the park trail map here.
Cell phone reception at the RV campground was OK – we had a bar, sometimes two, most of the week. It was enough to be able to send texts, check the weather, etc.
In the backcountry section of the park, reception was sporadic, as you’d expect. On the higher elevation trails, you could get two (even three) bars at times, while on the lower elevation trails you wouldn’t have any signal. At the primitive campground, we didn’t have any cell reception. On the river, we generally had a bar or two, though there were a few stretches where we didn’t have a signal.
A brief note about this information: it is very much our limited, and thus anecdotal, perception, as we kept our phones on airplane mode much of the time to conserve battery power. Your phone and service provider will, obviously, vary – we have iPhones with ATT service. I heard from a local that ATT has the best coverage in the area. We also might have had service at times we didn’t know or check, since we were in airplane mode.
While I’ve been wanting to get one for some time, this trip convinced me that it was worth the price to buy a Garmin inReach Mini (and one of the required subscriptions) for peace of mind when we’re out hiking, paddling, etc. where cell service isn’t reliable or available.
This device, which uses satellites to communicate rather than relying on cell phone towers, ensures that, pretty much anywhere you are, you can let people know you’re OK and allow them to track your movements online. It also includes an SOS feature to call for help if it truly is a dire situation that requires assistance or rescue.
We had such a great time that we have already starting planning when we will go back. The roughly three-hour drive time from our house means that it is too far for a typical weekend. While we might consider visiting over a three-day weekend, we are wondering whether this park might be our destination again during spring break 2022.
Be sure to check out this park and consider it for your next outdoor family trip. The photos don’t really do justice to the beauty of the area, the river and the park.
With so many activities to choose from (did I mention they also have four bird blinds, three windmills, an old barn and armadillos galore?), anyone can find something they’ll enjoy doing no matter how diverse your family’s outdoor interests might be.
Dawes Outdoors 
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