Inks Lake State Park

Our final park on Holiday Vanabout 2022-2023 was Inks Lake State Park. It is only about a 15 minute drive from Longhorn Cavern, so is a super convenient place to stay after visiting the caverns (which you definitely should-- see our previous post-- we loved them!).

It was also a great park in its own right! This was the first "lake-centric" park on our trip, and we really enjoyed just walking around the banks of the lake. I bet its great for swimming in the summer, but the park store rents out kayaks and canoes year-round. It was not very populated when we went, but I bet it’s hoppin’ in the summer!

Our campsite was on the peninsula across the lake.

Logistics

We stayed in the RV camping area, which has nice spacious spots with electricity.

Cell service was VERY intermittent. The bathhouse nearby had wifi, which basically only worked if you were at the bathhouse. (Luckily, there was a bench outside.)

Speaking of bathhouses, they were up to normal Texas State Parks standards. Seriously, they should get an award. Every place we’ve been has been reasonably clean with hot water and good water pressure.

The gift shop has canoes and kayaks for rent.

Trails

Inks Lake is (duh) more of a “lake park” than a “trail park,” and we were a little tired by this point, so we almost just lazed around the campsite all day. But we’ve learned that if I’m “on the fence” about an activity, to just go ahead and do it! And seriously, when have we ever regretted going for a hike?? So we made ourselves get out and explore the Valley Spring Creek Trail and the Devil's Backbone Nature Trail on the north end of the park.

I’m so glad we did!

These trails are lined with Gneiss (pronounced "nice") rock, which are 1.2 billion years old. Yes, that's billion with a B! This is much older than the typical limestone found in hill country and also made for a challenging trail in some places. (I'll never again think "nature trail = easy” after this trip!) The trail has some great scenic views into the Devil's Waterhole on the northeast end of Inks Lake. Despite all of the hill country hiking we’d done so far, this still proved to be a unique and interesting experience.

Gneiss rocks!