McKinney Falls State Park

I'm so glad we made it to this park! We almost turned around and came back home after getting stuck in traffic due to some construction. (we're not very patient) We ended up spending about 5 hours here.....wishing we would have brought our camping gear and bikes. This place is just 12 miles south of Austin, so a good hour and a half to get there. Totally worth it though! We were afraid it would be super packed because it was so close to Austin but it wasn't bad at all.....especially the first swimming spot we went to. It was a little more of a hike to get to than the other, maybe that's why it wasn't as crowded. We don't like crowds so it was perfect for us. (and we LOVE to hike)

Start of the hike. Allie insisted on wearing the Camelback. I knew it was so she could CONSTANTLY be drinking water while we were hiking. I was right!

walking under a rock shelf (reminded us of Old Man's Cave trail in Hocking Hills, Ohio)

We made it to the Lower Falls!! Our first Texas swimming hole.

Avery and Derek swam out to the rock. You can see where the water is darker. It gets really deep.

Allie's turn

now all of us are over there. I found a way to go around the back side of the rocks! There were little pools of water on top of the rocks. Our little genius found a stick and dipped it in the water and started writing and drawing.

Blake's turn to cool off!

We had to keep a very close eye on him......everything goes to his mouth

Not happy that he can't get those rock things in his mouth

......so we taught him to splash

not too far into the hike back Blake was asleep

we promised the girls we'd stop at the Upper Falls. It was a lot bigger and way more crowded......but more kid friendly b/c of this big shallow area.

Derek was loving this little diving area

This was such a fun day! I always have a hard time getting up early to drive to these 1-2 hour away destinations but am always more than glad that we did after we get there. It's so nice and refreshing to be outside exploring nature. I'm so glad we started hiking with our kids when they were little because it's helped them to really enjoy hiking and being outdoors as well. This spot was extra special because we had somewhere to cool off in the Texas heat! When we got back to the car the external temp said 100 degrees! Can't wait to scratch off a few more of our "must see" places soon. We don't have a whole lot of time left to do them all.