Once you reach Gorman Falls, youll find not only the gorgeous waterfall, but a wooden platform located perfectly for admiring the falls and eating a picnic lunch. One thing that Fort Griffin offered was a/c power at the dark, open sky camp spots. They have chains you can hold onto to help you get down the rocks okay, but beware that this portion of the hike requires a bit more focus and slower pace.Its not too hard, but since the rocks were pretty slick for us, we were moving our body in weird ways to stay upright and gripping on to the chains. Gorman Falls at Colorado Bend State Park in the Texas Hill Country. You will have to park about 50 yards from your campsite and there are restrooms nearby as well.Backcountry SitesThere are multiple backcountry campsites, which do not allow fires or have water or restrooms. The Gorman Spring and a few other springs feed Gorman Creek, which then descends a spectacular 65 feet (20m), forming what is known as Gorman Falls. Check out our Texas guides and videos! Our most popular trail is very rocky, has little shade, and includes a steep and slippery descent near the falls. Later I took my kids there for a short time before it was sold. (longer walks to exposure or sites, less than 1 miles; some areas handicapped-accessible with great difficulty due to rocks, brush, or other obstacles). We knew the owners personally and I still have their business card. While this made it easier to see the falls, since we didnt have leaves in the way, it does make the area a bit less lush and green than you see online.If you want to have the lush and green experience you see in Google Photos, wed suggest going in the late spring through the summer. These units are hard for the untrained eye to tell apart! In my opinion, Copper Breaks is quieter than Ft. Griffin, whose bisecting state highway has audible truck traffic all night. Now that we have a dog, finding dog-friendly trails is constantly on our mind. Find Out More. Content of this site Copyright Texas Parks and Wildlife Department unless otherwise noted. The official recommendation is to carry one liter of water per person, per hour. It's about 10 miles above Lake Buchanan, on the western bank of the Colorado River on Gorman Creek. We stopped by Copper Breaks while exploring the area. Find adventures and camping on the go, share photos, use GPX tracks, and download maps for offline use. The sky here at night can't be beat. 8081 in O. T. Hayward, ed., Centennial Field Guide 4South-Central Section: Geological Society of America, p. 351360. Be sure to account for a nice, leisurely break at the waterfall when calculating how long you want to spend on the Gorman Falls trail in Colorado Bend State Park! Pin this hiking guide to help plan your adventure! Near the Colorado River and its drainages, they are eroded into rugged canyons. Gorman Falls 31.0584 -98.4821 Youll see dramatic travertine formations and lush vegetation. They sell firewood and ice on site. This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. The wet season at Hill Country usually runs from April to mid-September. Visited in November and while the weather was cooperative, the sun is very fierce. Colorado Bend State Park is an amazing gem at the northern edge of Texas hill country. Nice! GPS coordinates shown in decimal degrees. Contact Us Compared to other state parks we have been to in Texas, Colorado Bends campsites are more primitive and a bit different than the typical state park campground layout.Drive-Up SitesThere are 15 drive-up sites, which are suitable for RVs up to 30 feet, but do not have potable water or electricity at each site. 8. We only recommend products we truly love, actually use during our adventures, and think you can benefit from too! If you are visiting the park just for the day there is a self-service pay station right as you enter on the right. The rest of the park is accessible by hiking, mountain biking (challenging) and that's about it. Its about 2 hours northwest of Austin, and 3.5 hours southwest of Dallas. Once you go 10.7 miles farther, the road begins to descend and a wide valley (Smithwick again) is visible ahead; this is the Chappel Hill road cut. The highlights of the park trails are a travertine creek on the east, and a large waterfall with caves on the west. Swim at your own risk, and help us protect this area by Leaving No Trace. Claim your listing for free to respond to reviews, update your profile and much more. Lush vegetation frames the trail as it meanders through Gorman Canyon; be prepared for creek crossings. The cell service is spotty. Your email address will not be published. Visit our Volunteer page to learn more. There are 400 caves in the park. Log in, We are passionate waterfall lovers eager to share our experiences chasing waterfalls around the world! TPWD complies with Federal civil rights laws and is committed to providing its programs and services without discrimination. How to Visit the Eiffel Tower in Paris, TX (+ Photos & FAQ), 10 Great Texas Gulf Coast RV Parks (Beach Trip Ideas), 10+ Tips for Round Top, TX Shopping Trips (Antiques Fair Advice! The helpful staff directed us to the Juniper Ridge Nature Trail for the best look at the rock formations which give the park its name. The overlook is 200 ft above the Colorado River and has incredible views of both the river and the surrounding Hill Country. Getty Images. The rest rooms are spotless. Read our. It was a bit busier when we finished the hike, but the trail itself never felt that busy.There is also a vault toilet at the trailhead, so if you need to go to the restroom before your hike, theyve gotcha covered! Show more, Gorman Falls Panorama in Colorado Bend State Park, Three Waterfalls of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and Uncle Tom's Trail, Trekking to Bolaven Plateau & Tad Fane Waterfall. The park offers 35 miles of trails, most open for hiking and bicycling. Over time the deposits build up and form a rock called Travertine, which has made Gorman Falls 650 feet wide and 60 feet thick over millions of years. (car stops; viewpoints or road cuts; fully accessible; may have curbs). There is a good sized parking lot at the trailhead and when we arrived around 8 AM on a Saturday in December, there were only a handful of cars. Colorado Bend State Park . The area was officially protected in 1986, and includes a 292,500 - acre patchwork of public and private lands throughout the Columbia River Gorge. Overnight, I saw and heard lots of coyotes. Enjoy views of this hidden gems cliff walls and canyon rim. The endemic, near-threatened Guadalupe bass is among the fish that live in the river.[2]. It makes the hike a lot more fun though! This waterfall is situated in Colorado Bend State Park, one of the most diverse state parks in the area, and is what is considered a "living" waterfall. Swimming is also prohibited. We had to turn right back around . Above is about 20 ft or so of lower Barnett Shale, an olive-gray mudstone with a few thin limestone and siltstone layers. The park has capacity limits, so reserving a day pass and an overnight stay in advance is recommended. However, the hike should be doable for kids and adults of all activity levels.While on the map the trail is an out and back trail, there are multiple trails you can connect to from the main trail if you wanted to add on mileage to your hike. I come in with a tent and a nice amateur telescope. Texas Parks & Wildlife Department website, R. S. Kier, 1988, Paleozoic strata of the Llano region, central Texas: No. We are novice campers and felt the park was well laid out and maintained. This trail climbs from the river canyon near the River Backpack Camping Area to the uplands following Lemons Ridge west to the Windmill Area. It is often marked by borrow pits, stock ponds, and ranch roads, all caused by the clayey soils developed there. Address: Colorado Bend State Park, 2236 Park Hill Dr, Bend, TX 76824, USA. The Gorman Falls trailhead is located down a small side road that you turn left off the main park road shortly after ending Colorado Bend State Park to reach. Having a headlamp is not only one of the 10 hiking essentials, but is especially important if you plan to start your hike before sunrise or finish after sunset. We are interested in birds, but we must have been too early for migrants, and saw very few. Watch your footing as you meander back and forth across the creek and hike up the canyon to take in gorgeous views. While the scenery of Colorado Bend State Park, where the waterfall is situated, seems rather arid and rocky, the waterfall itself is surrounded by lush greenery and looks like it belongs in the tropics. Enjoy the fishing. Your email address will not be published. For a more unique experience and to be set away from the parks many visitors, choose the Pecan Flats Trail Primitive Camp which is about a mile hike from the Pecan Flats trailhead.Once you enter the park, the Pecan Flats trailhead is located in the parking lot directly beside the parking lot for the headquarters. Find Out More. If y, Just a few of the many beautiful waterfalls you ca, Hello from New England! The tr Inks Lake is located northwest of Austin and is home to about 200 campsites. Landscape Domain: Lampasas Cut Plain (border with Llano Country), Ecoregion: Edwards Plateau / Woodland (border with Limestone Cut Plain), A paleotufa mass (formed from an old spring outflow) forms cliffs along the Colorado River, Chappel limestone close-up; note the visible small chert nodules and fossils, Stalactites and stalagmites are also forming in the tufa at Gorman Falls, Overview of the main Gorman Falls tufa cone, Close-up of paleotufa topset beds with plant impressions. And now that Fort Griffin is shut off, astro types who are overwhelmingly environmentalists need a dark site to go to. I cant ell you how much those annual trips mean to me now as I turn 68. While most waterfalls will get smaller over time, Gorman Falls gets bigger. With the exception of a very steep final descent just before arriving at the waterfall, the hike is fairly flat. This website contains affiliate links from websites such as MileValue.com, Amazon.com, Booking.com, and Rentalcars.com. The trailhead leading to the falls is only 2.8 miles (4.5 km) round trip, but difficulty may depend on seasonal weather conditions as it could get muddy or slippery in the winter. It's best to start as early as you can to beat the heat and make sure you bring lots of water. Are the roads in the park paved? The cliff and hill on the right are all composed of tufa deposits of an earlier, less eroded stage of the creek and its source springs. However, they only go to the camping areas. 1. Rising 70 feet above the river, Gorman Falls is a unique geologic formation. Gorman Falls trailhead is 5.6 miles from headquarters (4 miles from Bend). The campsites we saw on our drive through the park looked attractive. In hot weather and were early last year for the ice storm. Gorman Falls 4.5 99 reviews #2 of 4 things to do in Bend Waterfalls Visit website Call Write a review What people are saying By Inspire587709 " Travertine Delight " Dec 2020 You descend over slippery, well-worn limestone at the destination, so hold onto the cable railing tightly. Wed highly recommend downloading the AllTrails map for the route youre hiking before you go. If you are planning to stay the night you must continue along the park road for another 6 miles to the park headquarters to pay for a camping site. You can often find us driving all around the US and Canada, scoping out the best coffee shops, eating tacos and ice cream (were a 5+ taco and 2+ scoop household), and enjoying nature. Join Friends of Colorado Bend State Park. The content on this website may not be copied or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without prior written permission. So be respectful to the area if you visit, it's still a stunning sight! I picked it for a few reasons: Our family went tent camping and completely enjoyed the trip. It is worth the run into Quanah for the museum and some great food also. Gorman Falls Gorman Falls is an impressive, 70-foot-high waterfall. I would love to come back for the night time viewing and stargazing. The tufa forms as the outflow of a major spring with karstic (cave) drainage of a good bit of the Ellenburger. The Spicewood Springs trail, one of the hiking trails in the park, has numerous creek crossings. Are the roads suitable for a nice ride? We wandered around at first (trailer in tow) looking for a good site. We tent camped in the Comanche (Water and Electricity) campground for two nights over spring break. Also nearby is the Medicine Mound ghost town and the hills from which the town took its name. A good exposure of the Marble Falls Limestone (Morrowan, earliest Pennsylvanian) occurs along FM 501 at Cherokee Creek, some 2 miles beyond Chappel Cemetery (at the junction of FM 501 and Rough Creek Rd). Bad experience we drove nearly 2 hours to hike and when we got there the lady told us we couldnt hike because we didnt make a reservation before hand. A few miles from the park is a marker near the Pease River Battlefield where the Texas Rangers fought the Comanches and found Cynthia Ann Parker. We are towing and wish not to unhook. State Parks Open now 8:00 AM - 10:00 PM Visit website Call Write a review About A hidden jewel of the Texas park system. Then. (longer walks to exposure or sites, less than 1 miles; some areas handicapped-accessible with great difficulty due to rocks, brush, or other obstacles), (car stops; viewpoints or road cuts; fully accessible; may have curbs), Scenic canyon in Ellenburger limestone and dolomite, Barnett Shale and Chappel Limestone outcrop in area, Colorado Bend State Park is a 5,328.3-acre park that was purchased in 1984 and opened to the public in 1987, The park boasts many outdoor activities including primitive camping, hiking, mountain biking, caving, fishing, swimming, paddling, birding, and guided tours; there are 32 miles of trails and 155 different species of birds within the park, Guadalupe bassTexas' state fishthrive in the pools formed by small travertine dams at Gorman Falls. The trailhead to Gorman Falls, which feeds into the Colorado River, is located at the entrance to Colorado Bend State Park (off FM 580 ), two hours northwest of Austin. There was alot of nice scenes. If anyone has pictures of the camp from then I would love to have some. I wore my favorite KEEN Whisper hiking sandals and was perfectly happy with them, but hiking boots wouldnt go amiss here either. If you make a purchase through one of these links, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. This location is located about an hour and a half west of Austin, Texas (75 miles) but is well worth the drive for a day trip! Gorman Spring 31.0519 -98.4858 Subterranean waters from miles of contributing drainage are forced to the surface, feeding Gorman Creek and providing the mineral compounds that have built Gorman Falls. Take the short, easy Spicewood Springs Trail to the spring-fed swimming holes and small waterfalls. This bedrock depression, carved by springs and seeps, is an important ecological feature as it supports unique plant communities and wildlife. This state park is a gem encompassing pretty rolling hills and bluffs near the wide, seasonal Pease River. Lots of hands on animal bones, furs, etc. I have never seen a bathroom that wasnt very clean. But their beauty bumps overall review up into a 4. As always, we recommend having the 10 essentials on you when doing any hike, but here are a few key items we want to point out that will especially help you during this hike!