Three nights and part of four days camping at Inks Lake State Park was a refreshing break from the busyness and challenges of 2023.
In January, I began a teacher certification program to become a certified public school teacher. As expected, it has been both exciting and rewarding, as well as challenging and tiring. The start to the 2023-2024 school year as an elementary special education teacher has confirmed for me that I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing, as I truly enjoy the opportunity to help students learn and grow. Even so, teaching is the hardest job I’ve ever taken on, with lots of long hours and some work needed on most evenings and weekends — especially as I work to overcome the inevitable learning curve that comes with a new job / career path. This year has also been difficult due to the loss of several loved ones. Our cat Peek-a-boo died in April (around 14 years old), our dog JoJo died in July (around 13 years old), and my maternal grandmother died in October (age 92). So, it’s been an emotionally difficult year, in addition to the vocational changes. As a result of all this, we haven’t camped since July, and so we welcomed the opportunity to get away, relax, and disconnect for several days at Inks Lake SP, enjoying the trails and the beautiful views of the lake and surrounding area. We’ve camped here and visited for the day several times before, and I’ve posted two blogs previously (here and here) offering a brief over of the park and a few hiking options. The park’s website is here, a park map is available here, and a trail map available here. Also, you can click on any of the images throughout the blog to view them in a larger size (and if any are slightly pixelated, it is due to reducing the image size to help the page load faster).
On this trip, we tried to make it as easy and relaxing as possible. We left our kayaks at home (which was a wise decision since it was rainy the first day and windy the next three), and decided to drive into Marble Falls (about 30 minutes away) for dinner on two of our three nights. We ate at River City Grille the first night, a favorite of ours due to its view of the Colorado River. On our last night, we ate at Double Horn Brewery, a new place for us and one we’d visit again. Marble Falls has lots of local shopping options, as well as a number of chain stores, so you can find just about anything you might want or need. While in town, we stopped by Johnson Park near downtown. It is worth visiting if you have the time, as it has a short hiking trail, a boat ramp on Backbone Creek that feeds into Lake Marble Falls, as well as several playgrounds. At this time of year, there is also a Walkway of Lights at Lakeside Park (located on the other side of Backbone Creek from Johnson Park), which we enjoyed seeing after dinner on our first night. If you’re just in need of a few supplies that you forgot (or ran out of), the town of Burnet is a bit closer at around 18 minutes away, and it has an HEB, a few auto part stores, and several local and chain restaurants. The park store at Inks Lake is also well stocked with camping supplies at reasonable prices, so check there first before driving into either town.
Our time at the park was spent relaxing (inside the camper off and on the first day due to rain / drizzly weather), hiking, and trail running. We stayed in spot 91, which offers a nice view of the lake, and easy access to the boat ramp, camp store, and one of the bathroom facilities. We camped on this same loop at another site a few years ago, and we’d recommend this area of the park if you’re looking to stay at a site with water and electrical hookups.
As a family, we hiked the Devil’s Backbone Trail to the bird blind and back, which is about a 3.6-mile round trip hike. We’ve hiked this trail to an overlook by the swimming area several times before (click here for details), but this was our first time to go all the way to the bird blind. It is an enjoyable and relatively easy hike, with only a few short sections that are somewhat steep and rocky.
My wife and I also did several trail runs. I did a 10k loop twice (clockwise and then counterclockwise), while my wife ran a four-mile loop, as she did a 20-mile run the day before we left for the park in preparation for a marathon in early December. You can see our runs on the images above, with mine in green (clockwise loop) and blue (counterclockwise loop) and my wife’s in purple. None of the loops are overly difficult, though they will offer a good workout, and you’ll likely want to hike several ascents and descents. I’d recommend any of the trails at the park for hiking or trail running, though there are sections of the Devil’s Backbone Trail that are quite narrow and / or steep, so you’ll likely need to stop and hike as you pass people or come to the rockier ascents and descents. The trails are well marked overall, though it is possible to miss a marker painted on a rock when moving faster on the trail, so be sure to have a map with you (paper or on your phone) for reference.
Inks Lake SP is a favorite of ours in central Texas, and we enjoyed this latest trip. If you’re considering a day trip or overnight stay at a state park, we’d certainly recommend this park, as it offers a lot of family-friendly activities (hiking, paddling, fishing, etc) and amenities (park store, playground, Kona Ice truck, etc), as well as a range of camping options (RV, tent only, and primitive hike-in), with views of the lake from many of the campsites.
Dawes Outdoors 