McKinney Falls State Park! Now this is a campground I have been hearing and reading about for years. Everyone says how wonderful it is and we had to go. So…we went!
The state park is in the southeast of Austin and literally right in the city. This is perfect if you want to be close to town either for the amenities, entertainment, friends/family, etc. It is close to the airport also! So yes it is great if those are the things that interest you. And when you are inside the state park you feel like you are really in a state park outside of town EXCEPT for the noise. You can hear the freeway traffic and the airport traffic. We did not like that at all. Thankfully our site was on the best end of the campground loop and we heard very little noise. But when we walked around the campground we noticed the other side of the loop was very loud with city noise.
Campground: McKinney Falls State Park
Location: Austin, Texas
Site: 39 (Loop Big Oak) – pull-thru
Cost: $15 (with Texas State Park Pass)
Services: E/W (30AMP)
Comments: We loved our site! One of the things we had read about this park was how great and big the sites and they were right. It was a very long pull thru site with a very large picnic area and nice site privacy. There is a dump station at the campground.
We had beautiful warm weather while visiting McKinney but seeing as it was winter the falls we very quiet! Even though it was January the campground was full and the falls area had lots of people fishing and walking about. We enjoyed a bike ride around the Onion Creek bike trail and walking some of the trails. It is a lovely place even though it is way too close to a large city for us!!
We needed firewood and the only place to buy it inside the park was via a vending machine. We had used different machines and they all seem to be a bit different. With this machine we could see the firewood in each container and it sure would have been nice to select which one we wanted (all bundles are not created equal). But once you put your credit card in and pay then “POP” and one of the doors opens up and you get what you get. Oh well. We got some with a few big pieces of wood! We managed and had a few terrific campfires while there.
While this is a lovely park with great campsites and bike trails we find it is too close to a large city for our liking. But it is terrific for the people who live in Austin to have such a great place so close to them! If we needed to be in Austin then we would for sure stay here but otherwise we will head out in the country more. And now we know what this place is all about!
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