Visiting the Outdoors Outside the City Limits

A drive 50 miles northwest of Austin, TX, puts you directly inside a chain of six freshwater lakes, which many Texans during the summer months may confuse with heaven. This lake chain, better known as the Highland Lakes, flows through several Hill Country towns including Marble Falls. The small town of nearly 7,000 people helps travelers looking to destress from the hustle of the big city and provides a few options for those hoping to explore nature.

At times when Barton Creek swells with people or when your favorite trails start to bore you then hitting the road for an hour drive may not sound too bad. Chances are you may have already passed through the small town on a separate trip, but it might warrant a stop next time if you want to explore more of the Texas Hill Country. It helps travelers experience the wildlife and nature of Central Texas minus the traffic and big city skyline in the background.   

The nature in the area drew in Confederate general Adam Rankin Johnson in 1887 when he established the city after seeing the town’s lake and “marble falls.” The city received its name from the natural falls created by the Colorado River that runs through the middle of town. The limestone rock, which formed the falls was instead mistaken for marble and lead to the name. Eventually, the building of a dam covered up the falls, but every few years the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) lowers the lake levels for repair and visitors can sneak a peek at the original falls. LCRA lowered Lake Marble Falls most recently in 2009 and plans to do so again in 2018 during their typical drawdown period of January-February.

The area seems to nurture rocks of all forms. Longhorn Caverns sits north of Marble Falls between the city limits and that of neighboring town, Burnet. The state park showcases the rocks and caverns formed around 300 million years ago according to Texas Parks and Wildlife.

Longhorn Caverns

Longhorn Caverns offers three tour options to explore the caves. The daily guided walk is a 1.5-hour journey through 1.5 miles of the caverns, the Wild Cave tour, a muddier 2-hour version that requires safety gear and crawling through crevices, and a photography excursion, which allows photo enthusiasts the chance to slowly venture through the cave system with any photo equipment they can carry.

“I don’t do a lot of cave humor,” says Mark Stein, head tour guide and park host at Longhorn Caverns. Stein serves as the only guide who administers all three tours. “When we show the Queen’s Watchdog, which is a natural formation that really looks like a dog. I tell them, ‘it’s a special breed of dog. It’s a rockweiler.’ That’s what gets the most response,” says Stein.

Al Gerow, 85-year-old tour guide and park geologist, recently underwent knee surgery on both legs but continues to give tours and maintains a youthful excitement and energy while explaining the caverns to visitors. Looking not look a day over 65, he leans slightly on a wooden walking stick as he navigates the cave system. During the tour a young boy standing next to Gerow interrupts him and asks, “Why are you standing like that?”

Gerow stops talking. He looks to the little boy and asks him to repeat his question. He chuckles before answering. “Why do I stand like this? Because I am old and fat and I can,” says Gerow.

He immediately continues to describe the stalactites hanging from the cave’s ceiling unfazed by the question. “We do get some strange questions,” Gerow says, “People tend to fixate on how bad the kids are. They say, ‘Don’t you get tired of those kids?’ I always say the kids are great. It’s the adults that give you the problems.”

“Now let me tell you the strangest question that has ever been asked of me. I hadn’t been working here very long and a young man came up with a very serious look on his face. He said, ‘Al, in this part of Texas how many caves are there like this that haven’t been discovered yet?’ He probably thought I was being sarcastic. I said ‘All of them,’ “says Gerow.

Throughout the tour Gerow’s character and knowledge helped make the caverns more interesting. Gerow noted how the caverns formed from water in the area that flooded through the cracks of the limestone.

“It’s a rare type of cave. There are only a few of them in the United States open to the public that formed in this same way,” says Stein.

 Longhorn Caverns provides an opportunity to learn more history about the area and cave systems in general. Peak times come during Spring Break, Fourth of July and the summer months, but tours stay fairly small giving visitors a more intimate experience than other larger cave systems like Carlsbad Caverns or Natural Bridge Caverns. The caves stay 68 degrees year-round so visiting during any season can work out and those looking for something to do on a rainy day can stay dry underground while walking through the caverns.

Inks Lake State Park

A few miles past Longhorn Caverns travelers will bump into Inks Lake State Park, a sister park to the caverns. Inks Lake, one of the six in the Highland Lakes chain, gives visitors a place to enjoy water activities. People can rent paddle boats, canoes or kayaks, try their luck at fishing or on a hot day go for a swim at the popular Devil’s Waterhole.

The park also offers cabins, campsites and RV hook ups options if visitors chose to extend their stay. Throughout the park are several trails for those seeking to venture past the waterfront. The trails range in difficulty from easy to moderate and from less than a mile to slightly over two.

The trails offer travelers a way to see the Texas wildlife up close. During the spring months, bluebonnets line the trail edges along with other native plants and trees. After visiting Devil’s Waterhole, walkers can take the Valley Spring Creek trail, which extends beside it. The trail adds up to ¾ of a mile and is an easy option for families and their furry friends. Although, expect to work up a little sweat if you begin the trail while the sun is out. 

Birds of all different varieties fly throughout the park, but a word of advice: I found that if you chase a cardinal to take its picture it may fly away pretty quickly. Also, when journeying through the park be aware of your surroundings because cactus plants live everywhere in the trails and no one wants to take home that kind of souvenir.

Bluebonnet Café

After visiting the state parks travelers may work up an appetite and for that there is Bluebonnet Café in Marble Falls. The restaurant opened its doors in 1929 and became a staple for the town. It’s homemade pies and home-style cooking attracts people from all over including some notable names like President George W. Bush. The restaurant often fills on weekends and lines of people wrap around outside the building waiting to try the food.  

Marble Falls helps connect visitors to the outdoors with their nearby state parks and lakes. While the small town does not have all the amenities of larger nearby cities it can offer up a change of pace for nature lovers looking to expand their journey through Texas.