Pedernales River Hike + Johnson City Dinner

We combined a day trip to Pedernales Falls State Park with a stop in Johnson City for dinner. If you’re looking for a way to combine hiking and dining / shopping, this is a great trip to replicate / adapt – particularly during the winter when the town square is decorated for Christmas. A brief description of our trip follows, but you can scroll down to the bottom if you only want to view the pictures.

Arriving at the park around noon, we hiked one of my favorite trails in the park: the Hackenberg Loop, moving counterclockwise so you end up at the beach area near the falls (click here for a park trail map). We then made our way further up-river – at first by climbing over the various boulders and bedrock in the river and then by hiking part of the river trail system until re-entering the riverbed and continuing in the riverbed until a little past the park boundary before retracing our steps and returning to the parking area. We’ve done this hike several times before in various ways, writing about it here for those interested in more details.

After the hike, we drove to the parking area by the trailhead leading down to the wading / swimming area. Since it was a cool day, we didn’t get in the water, but we found a comfortable rock to sit on while we enjoyed the view of the river and watched our son climb on the larger rocks by the river. If you have a child who likes climbing on rocks, then this is a great park to visit.

We then drove into Johnson City for dinner at Pecan Street Brewing Company, located on the town square across from the courthouse. Thankfully, we got a table by the window, so we had a great view of the Christmas lights as the sun went down. After dinner, we walked around the courthouse to view the lights before heading home.

This was an enjoyable half-day trip that would be easy to replicate and/or adapt. Even at other times of the year, a visit to Johnson City for lunch or dinner after spending time at the state park would be a pleasant family outing.