I'm sure people will be much happier about the place when you can finally reserve a specific site. The first come first served business is not conducive to a low stress stay. Site measurements are off. There needs to be a dumpster at the dump station to facilitate an easier time leaving without having to make 2 stops.
Fun place to visit. We walked 10 miles while we were there. There is one area that you have to cross the creek to get to the rest of the trails. Once we crossed we were almost by ourselves. Note: When crossing the river the rocks are very slippery. Great place to bring the family. The swimming is great as well. The water was cool and slowly moving.
Went there on a long weekend and could not get in as the park capacity was reached. Dis not have to wait much to enter in. We could see some wild flowers blooming near near the upper falls. Quite nice view. We went to upper falls and could see few people swimming in the pool. Water level at the falls was ankle length. We could cross the river easily. People were diving through a small cliff in the pool. Lower falls did not have much water.
What a great state park! We came right after some good rains, during Blue Bonnet season. Absolutely spectacular Blue Bonnets! Some fun trails, beautiful falls, and great picnic tables at which to eat our lunches.
Admission is per person. As of this writing, $6 for a regular adult, with discounts for children (12 and under). 65 and older can get a discount by signing up for a "lifetime" membership card. I think. I still have many years before I am eligible for that, so I'm going off of memory for what my mom did.
This is a really cool state park that is in dire Ned of some love and care. The scenery is beautiful, very picturesque. Our campsite was very nice.The sites are nicely spread out and feel very private. This is about 20-25 minutes from downtown Austin, but surprisingly, there are no nearby stores or restaurants. The bathrooms were tired. Clean and functional but they are long past needing simple repairs (like replacing missing tile). Most things we saw seemed like maintenance issues the park staff should be taking care of. There is a "paved" bike trail that was rougher than most off road trails I go on. Quite simply, this is a beautiful place that is not being kept up.
Great camping experience. The only things that would make it a 5 are: more accessible fishing area and stricter enforcement on dogs not getting in the water at the falls. Signs apparently aren't working for dog owners.
Great place to camp, hike, and enjoy the Texas Hill Country. The grounds are very well taken care of and the staff have always been helpful and friendly. In case the store isn't open, one nice thing is you have an HEB grocery store within 15 minutes from the park. Last but not least, they're dog friendly but do require 5 foot leashes for walks.
I came here for the first time two weeks back for a sunset hike with my boyfriend. It's an all-around beautiful and scenic park. We're very excited to make a return trip seeing as we did not have too much time the day we visited! Crossing the falls was pretty easy, we did have shoes with good traction that we don't need to take off for the wade to the other side.. but we saw many others taking their shoes off if they were prone to slipping.
Loved camping at McKinney. Spacious campsites, and pretty trees. We were able to get in some good hiking and biking around the park. There are plenty of historical land marks that are pretty interesting if you are willing to make the hikes. And of course while camping in Texas, you have to find a place with swimming! This place has it all :)
Wonderful place to take the family! Very clean and friendly staff. Loved seeing the wildlife and learning about the plants and animals in that area. The falls was the best part! Even with a lot of people we never felt crowded or like we were packed in to swim.
This park is only about 30 minutes driving distance from the state capitol. Since the weather was really hot and humid, we decided to go for the shortest trail before head back to the city for brunch.
We really underestimate the humidity of the weather and packed only a bottle of water for our hike. Bad choice. Dehydration took over us by the time we finished the trail. Luckily there's a water hookups at the picnic area for us to freshen up before heading back to the city. Expect tons of cactus and thorny plants around your surroundings. It's a breath of fresh air from the hustle bustle of the city.
Magnificent state park! Wow! The place is HUGE! Lots of terrific trails, good signage, more significant facilities than I expected (dining hall, visitor center, guard house, etc.) and a water features. Rangers are bountiful and they're serious about the speed limit in the park! (20mph)
And, it's easy to get to.
DEFINITELY bring WATER - more than you might normally anticipate - and bug spray and sun screen.
Enjoy!
I thought this place was pretty fun, but I didn't get to explore its entirety. Most of our time was spent in the upper falls because the lower falls had dried up (so no swimming=( ). The pool is a nice sized area under some rocks. There is one small cliff that kids like to jump off of. The terrain is rocky and it is a fun little hike around the pool. Around the pool, there are larger rocks which are nice to lie on. You can bring your animals and there are different trails and areas to explore. Great especially if you have kids because the area is big enough to explore, but small enough where you can keep an eye on them.
I did see a lot of trash which was so not cool and the water is not the cleanest but was sun warmed. Make sure to be careful when getting around the pool because the terrain is very rocky and uneven requiring some climbing up and down and some of the rocks are very slippery. In fact, getting back up, my husband's shoe accidentally fell out of the bag because the walk was so bumpy and we didn't even notice. Yeah maybe check out my pics so you know what the area looks like.
We just went for a day trip, but I imagine camping out here would be fun. Camp sites are very nearby so if you want to swim the upper falls are just right there. I did notice that there were a variety of trails that the park offers of differing difficulty levels and distances (some were like 0.11 miles, others longer) This was a pretty fun little excursion that I would recommend.
Beautiful park. Plenty of parking at the trail head. Swimming holes are beautiful and full of waterfalls. On occasion we've been down on the weekends around 11 or 12 and are told the park is already at capacity. Small camping store with some essentials like bug spray and flashlights, but you're better off grabbing your own beforehand at a better price.