Inks Lake State Park

A dip in the water, a trip to a campsite, endless hours in the blistering heat.

Inks Lake was going to be an experience like none we have ever had before. It was the first time we would stay overnight at a park and not just do a quick day trip. We came over from Longhorn Cavern, which we visited earlier in the day, to Inks Lake State Park. We had a primitive camping site booked for the night, but we got to the park around 2:30 pm and wanted to get some hiking and swimming in before we set up camp. After checking in, we looked through the trails map to see exactly where we wanted to go first. We definitely knew we wanted to go swimming, so this took us up to the Devil’s Waterhole area of the park.

It was hot that day. Temperatures got up to 107 degrees in the middle of the day, which was when we started hiking. We figured out quickly just how hot it was. Climbing up gneiss rocks which were a billion (with a b) years old, the sun rebounded off the ground and sweat came pouring off of the two of us. The trail itself was nice, a little rocky haha. Nowhere else in Texas do you get the landscape that blankets Inks Lake State Park. We crossed a spot in the creek where when water flows there would be a waterfall and a small pool for swimming. Unfortunately central Texas had been hit with a dry spell all summer, so no water was flowing.

The trail looped us back around to the other side of the Devil’s Waterhole where there is a small outcrop and overlook area onto the swimming hole. This is where we stopped to take a dip in the water. We were able to cool down for a few hours while exploring the backside cove of the hole. The water was a little hard to navigate at times, due to there being a plethora of rocks hidden under the water. It was difficult to see them, so we had to swim around and hope we wouldn’t run into one at full speed. We found some nice rock ledges to sit on and watched people jump from a 30 foot cliff and into the water below. It was so fun seeing all of the little kids take the plunge down into the water, jumping into their parents arms. I vowed to jump before we left. It was getting close to dinner time, so we decided it was time to start packing up. Kaylee got some pictures of the area and I went to jump off the edge of the cliff. I wish I would’ve jumped more times because it was a blast!

After walking back to the car, it was time to set up the campsite. This was a whole exercise in itself. It was over a mile walk from the parking lot to the campsite and we thought we packed light. We did not. We ended up making two trips to the car for stuff and it was not fun. We actually got smart and found a parking lot a little closer to the campsite that we drove the car to in order to get the cooler to the site.

That night consisted of a small dinner and a restless sweaty sleep as temperatures remained in the 90s for much of the night. There was a failed attempt at astrophotography somewhere in there as well. The sky was a little too cloudy to get any good shots of the stars.

We woke at daybreak to pack up and get stuff to the car before continuing to hike. The early morning hike was nice to get out before the sun was able to heat the ground too much. The side of the park we went to in the morning was full of hills and rocks. It had beautiful views of the surrounding areas and of the sun coming over the horizon. It was around 2 and a half miles round trip back to the car. The first stop along the trail was called the 1000 foot overlook. It provided a great view of the lake and surrounding hills. Kaylee thought all of the rocky landscapes were so fascinating and was always stopping to take pictures. The end of the hike led us to another Point of Interest called “Stumpy Hollow.” It was a spot in the lake where old trees didn’t get cleared out and left them sticking out of the water.

Kaylee wanted to go swimming again. So on the drive out of the park, we stopped at the day use area to take another dip in the lake. Inks Lake is a gorgeous park and provided us with a fun time all the way around. We got good pictures and had a great experience with our first camping trip. We wish it wasn’t so hot, but when you live in Texas there’s not much you can do.