Pedernales Falls State Park Campground

Very cool day trip here with the family. Great hiking or lounging by the river.

If you are visiting Johnson City, and you are looking for a place where you can escape into beautiful natural surroundings and find a basic camp base to spend the night, then you should definitely visit the Pedernales State Park.

If you are a tech freak or a city person who needs modern life luxuries then this place is not for you. On the other hand if you enjoy getting closer to nature, where you can enjoy swimming in crystal clear fresh waters, hike and camp far away from civilization, then this place sounds like the ideal destination in the area for you.

The conditions may be a little bit harsh, but at the same time the purity of the landscapes will prove to be a strong regenerating force for you to regain energy in both body and soul terms!

The only thing that you must be aware of and be very careful about, is the river. It may look calm and shallow most of the times, but don't underestimate it in anyway. Always be informed about the weather conditions in the nearby places when you decide to walk next to it, and when you see its level rising fast then you should leave the river bank immediately and get to the higher possible level from the river. Unfortunately, the area is notorious for its flash floods.

One last tip, while there, you must definitely go to the Twin Falls, what a great view that is !!!! Don't forget to take your camera with you!!!

Another Texas treasure!!! I stayed here in January 2015 and was treated to a nearly empty camp. The park itself is great, and it's in the wonderful Texas Hill Country with lots to see and explore nearby. I went to the LBJ National Historical Park, which is very much worth spending a whole day exploring.

Back to Pedernales, I stayed at site #46, which is a great site, but the best one I scouted out was #48 because it has a path to the bath house but is not right next to it. I always forget to consider that all night burning bright light when I choose my campsite near the bath house. My highlight of staying at the park was the hike I took along the Twin Falls Nature Trail and along the Pedernales River. Quite simply, I now have a favorite Texas river! What makes the Pedernales so special is that it flows over (what looked like to me) limestone, carving dips and pockets that are as fun to explore as tide pools. I would love to come back and tube down the river.

NOTE: This area is not to be challenged during flooding - flash floods can literally sweep you and your vehicle away in seconds. Do not drive through or into any flowing water, and generally avoid the area during flood times.

We stayed at this hill country park for five nights. Even though it rained pretty hard for the first couple of days/nights, there were breaks enough to walk a trail each day. There are twin falls down one trail, and the Pedernales Falls down another, and a swimming hole down another. Very hilly so not for the faint of heart, but not really rugged on some trails. This park is only about 40 miles west of Austin, TX, so it is full and busy every weekend, but it was so peaceful on the weekdays.

Park staff were all so friendly and helpful. We had crazy bookings because we initially booked Monday - Friday, then added a day on the front end and then added a day on the back end as people cancelled due to the rain early in the week. So, we had to register each reservation on the day it started. The park hosts, Duane and Betty went up and got our sticker for the last night and brought it to our campsite, so we didn't have to drive our class C up to headquarters a third time! They were the best and super nice!

Bathrooms were clean and had nice showers. They have sites available with water and 30 amp electric. Dump is available in the park. Note that they also charge $5 per person each day for day use in addition to the $20 for the campsite. Cell service was mostly not available, but we didn't care.

We enjoyed our stay and would stay again!

We camped in site 54, camp host suggestion. We able to level our 40 ft 5ver without any issues and had a private backyard to watch the deer in the evening. The river and falls were beautiful. Lnydon Johnsons boyhood home is about 12 miles away (free) and The Texas White House ($3 / person) is about 20 miles away. Both worth a visit
Cell coverage was very spotty, unless you drive up to the ranger station. .

We spent one night and almost two days here. I really enjoyed the the beautiful setting and scenery but the camping was not so wonderful.

A large number of sites and one shower/bath were closed for some reason. This closure reduced the number of "good" sites to camp in with our very long trailer. We selected a site on the east side of the camping loop and really wished we has selected a site on the west side, mainly due to the lack of shade in the afternoon and the slope that made it a challenge to get the trailer level. We will return for another visit in the future once the site closure issues have been resolved.

I have posted videos of our visit on my YouTube Channel and they can be found under the "blogs" tab above.

The campgrounds here are tired and broken. The “pad” of asphalt was narrow and short because it had large chunks of pieces gone. The picnic tables are old and warped and splintered. No cell service. Bathrooms were under construction. Duck pond was dried up, which I found out by hiking there - seems the personnel could have told me when checking in that the water was low. Sites have concrete barriers all around (like at the end of a parking space) and the pads are generally short. This is probably a better camp ground for tents.

Our site was a huge clearing surrounded by dense woods, very private but we paid for a site with electric and our outlet was broken. Most of the other campsites were “out of order”, also they claimed to have bathrooms and a shower but these were so far that we had to drive to them so we opted not to use them. The park itself was gorgeous and we hiked to some beautiful spring fed waterfalls but the trails weren’t marked well and we had a very hard time navigating and staying on the trail.

The good: We loved our site, #11. It was very large, shaded most of the day, and clean. We even had a herd of deer visiting a couple of the days! Bathrooms were renovated and clean. We loved hiking down to the river to swim - a tip: hike down and then go to the right where the water is calmer. There was even a rope swing!

The bad: Nearly every site in this Campground was backwards. I prefer my door facing my site, not towards the road. They were just angled the wrong way. It’s also quite a hike to nearby bathrooms - not a problem with us, but could be for those with no toilet.

We had an enjoyable time! It’s a beautiful park!

The bathrooms have been newly redone and the park is well maintained.