Weekend Getaway: Camping at South Llano River State Park
Many of the families here at DuckTV take an annual fall camping trip together. This past weekend we visited South Llano River State Park near Junction, TX for the first time. We all had a wonderful time. It was a bit further away from Austin than other campgrounds, which was a result of late planning. But, it is only 2.5 hours away and the drive is quite nice through Dripping Springs, Johnson City, and Fredericksburg. Plenty of opportunities for interesting stops, if you have the time. We were particularly impressed by the development of the wineries around Fredericksburg. Alas, we were pressed for time and drove directly to the campground.
As you can guess by the name, the park sits on the banks of the Llano River. The campsites are large and spread out. In fact, we only needed 3 campsites for 5 families and still had plenty of room. There are many trails down to the river and along the river. The park headquarters even rents tubes for a short float on the river during warmer months. The trails that lead to the river are a major roosting area for turkeys and are only open from 10 am to 3 pm from October 1st through March 31st. This didn't affect our stay much. In fact, since our campsites backed up to the roosting area and along the trailhead, it lead to quieter afternoons around our campsite. At night we could hear the turkeys gobbling in the woods behind us.
Turkeys aren't the only birds that frequent this park. The park is a birders paradise. Hundreds of species birds make their way through the park at some point during the year. Several bird blinds are set up a different areas of the park and attract birds throughout the day. We saw several birds of prey and smaller birds of all colors. We didn't keep a checklist, but there is one available online: http://tpwd.texas.gov/publications/pwdpubs/media/pwdbkp4507_0116a.pdf
On the other side of the campground from the river and turkey roost are miles and miles of hiking and biking trails. Several head uphill to some impressive views of the surrounding hill country. However, a few of the kids made it to the Scenic Overlook trail and were not fans of that trail. So, we enjoyed some of the other trails including the Red Fawn Trail. We saw wildlife all weekend both on the trails and behind our campsites, including deer, turkeys, armadillos, and even a fox.
The favorite part of the trip for everyone was kayaking and canoeing down the Llano River. You can access the river directly from the park if you bring your own boat and can float downstream all the way to the town of Junction. But, the easiest way to do it is head out of the park and towards Junction to Paddler's Porch - http://www.paddlersporch.net/. They rent single kayaks and larger canoes. They load everyone up in a large van with the boats towed behind it and head upriver to a spot just opposite the state park. They get the boats in the river and send you on your way. We took a leisurely float down the river for 2.5 hours with a short stop on an island to rest, skip rocks and get our feet wet in the river. We didn't see another soul on the river and there were a few short sections of minimal whitewater that gave everyone reason to hoot and holler. A quick call at the exit point on the river and the Paddler's Porch crew was there in no time to pick us back up. We all highly recommend this adventure on the river.
