Return to Inks Lake State Park

Fascinating Llano Uplift Landscape
User: plectrudis - 1/29/2017  [View Log Page]
Rating: 4stars Difficulty: 3stars Solitude: 3stars
Distance: 3.50 Miles Duration: N/A

Inks Lake has a lot in common with its neighbor, Enchanted Rock, but minus the giant dome.  It's part of the same Llano Uplift of pink granite, though, so it's similar in plants and hummocky pink boulderiness.  Superficially, it might seem like any other part of the Hill Country, but because it is based on granite rather than limestone, the geology is very different, and the region hosts ferns, spikemosses, quillworts, and yuccas that are distinct to this area.

While still very popular, Inks Lake is MUCH quieter than E-Rock, and it isn't hard to find some solitude.

Blue is nice
User: texaskdog - 2/14/2015  [View Log Page]
Rating: 3stars Difficulty: 2stars Solitude: 4stars
Distance: 2.50 Miles Duration: 1 hour

We did the blue, which is most easily accessed from outside the park (i.e. free).  We thought it was a pretty nice trail.

Nice Lake, Boring Trails
User: Blaze - 6/20/2013  [View Log Page]
Rating: 1point5stars Difficulty: 1point5stars Solitude: 2point5stars
Distance: 5.50 Miles Duration: 2 hours, 45 minutes

I decided to do some primitive camping at Inks Lake, so I did this hike slowly with a full backpack.  I started my hike at the Green trailhead, hiked down towards the lake and explored the various offshoots of the Green trail, then returned along the lake to the Blue Trail loop, to the Red trail cutoff and finally to the Yellow Trail to the Pecan Flats Trail Camp.  The next morning I took the Yellow trail back to the Green Trail to my car.

I found the lake to be scenic, but the trails were boring.  The only interesting thing about this park was the rock.  It wasn't the typical limestone/sandstone you see in a lot of the hill country, but more of a harder granite.

User: ValEpiscopo - 3/30/2013  [View Log Page]
Rating: 4stars Difficulty: 3stars Solitude: 4stars
Distance: 7.00 Miles Duration: 4 hours
Hiked green trail, blue trail, part of red trail, and part of yellow (Pecan Flats) trail.
Great day.
User: edwardschultz - 10/19/2011  [View Log Page]
Rating: 4stars Difficulty: halfstar Solitude: 4point5stars
Distance: 3.50 Miles Duration: N/A
Because of high temps and work; we haven't been out to Inks Lake for a while. With cooler temperatures and being on vacation we ventured back to the trails . The trailheads were marked well but trails were lost due to nature in some areas. There were quite a bit of cactus so the dog needed a very short leash. Other than that, Inks Lake State Park is still a great hiking area with different difficulties on each trail. Lots of birds and a couple deer made it an enjoyable day.
One of the best hikes in the area
User: J3NN1F3R - 3/12/2011  [View Log Page]
Rating: 4stars Difficulty: 2point5stars Solitude: 3stars
Distance: 7.00 Miles Duration: N/A

My husband and I have spent several years hiking around south and central Texas (as well as New Mexico, Colorado, west Texas, etc). While I would not rate Inks Lake with some of the bigger National Parks that we've hiked, it is one of the best state park hikes we've had in the area.  Even on a crowded spring Saturday, the farther trails were pretty much empty, and most of those we saw on the trails were there with dogs and good attitudes. The trail markers were easy to identify. I would take a few highlighters and mark up your map to the color-coded map posted at the trail-head, as these colors will correspond to the trail markers.

For a post-hike cool down, be sure to check out the Devil's Watering Hole.

Overall, I was surprised by how impressed I was with Inks Lake State Park.

User: wesrader - 1/15/2010  [View Log Page]
Rating: 5stars Difficulty: 4stars Solitude: 3stars
Distance: 5.00 Miles Duration: 2 hours, 30 minutes

This is a great hike, especially when you cross the highway and get up into the isolated hills and rocks.  Lots of climbing and great views of  Inks Lake and the surrounding hills.  Inks is a great place to camp too, with lots of things to do.

Green loop
User: Riff Raff - 1/9/2010  [View Log Page]
Rating: 4stars Difficulty: 4stars Solitude: 4stars
Distance: 2.50 Miles Duration: 2 hours

Attempted to take the green loop on this cold weekend (there was still some ice in a few places). Had some trouble staying on the trail since I hadn't initially noticed the green dot markers painted on the rocks in the more sketchy areas. Very nice, rugged area.

Had to walk off turkey
User: ems330 - 11/28/2009  [View Log Page]
Rating: 3stars Difficulty: 1star Solitude: 1star
Distance: 1.50 Miles Duration: N/A

My wife and I took our 15 month son on part tof the green trail. It wasn't marked very well so ended up just finding way back to road then to parking lot.  But was good was to get out of house and walk off some of Thanksgiving dinner.

Great Hike
User: Fievel121 - 3/16/2009  [View Log Page]
Rating: 4stars Difficulty: 3stars Solitude: 3stars
Distance: 1.50 Miles Duration: 30 minutes

Plesant, with plenty of hills & lots of cactus. Spring is the perfect time for this hike

Granite and heat
User: caspalding66 - 10/25/2008  [View Log Page]
Rating: 4stars Difficulty: 2stars Solitude: 3stars
Distance: 4.50 Miles Duration: 2 hours
Great granite outcroppings and views, still hot in october
User: M High - 3/16/2008  [View Log Page]
Rating: 3stars Difficulty: 2stars Solitude: 2stars
Distance: 5.00 Miles Duration: 3 minutes

Trail is very well marked (except for some of the green trail, where I have to do a little bit of trailfinding).  Easy hike, very little change in elevation, only saw a couple dozen people on a Sunday afternoon.  But civilization was never far away, lots of road traffic noises during most of the hike, plus powerlines. 

Awesome view, Fun Hike
User: hawaiiantaz - 3/2/2008  [View Log Page]
Rating: 4stars Difficulty: 2stars Solitude: 5stars
Distance: 7.00 Miles Duration: 2 hours, 24 minutes

A friend and I started our hike shortly after the park opened this day... shortly after starting we stopped by the lake to watch some water fowls playing.  Trails were easy to follow and the outcropping of rocks/granite made the hike interesting.  The trail along the outcroppings are clearly marked either with colored paint dots or with rocks layed out forming a path.  I saw a couple of large lizards (they wouldn't stick around for me to take pictures of them though).  The whole time we hike, we were the only 2 people on the paths... loved it and would hike here again!!

short but pretty hike to Devil's Watering Hole
User: haggai - 11/10/2007  [View Log Page]
Rating: 4stars Difficulty: 3stars Solitude: 3stars
Distance: 3.00 Miles Duration: 1 hour

Plenty of opportunities for bouldering, cooling down in the water, and enjoying the scenic, rocky countryside.  Watch out for snakes.

Enjoyable
User: jsr59jsr - 7/31/2007  [View Log Page]
Rating: 3stars Difficulty: 3stars Solitude: 4stars
Distance: 7.00 Miles Duration: 3 minutes
Fabulous Camping
User: perk1963 - 6/11/2007  [View Log Page]
Rating: 4stars Difficulty: 4stars Solitude: 5stars
Distance: 30.00 Miles Duration: 14 hours

We camped near Devil's Swimming Hole for several days.  The weekend would have been unmanagable due to the crowds we witnessed even late on Sunday, but Monday was a whole different story and we loved it.  We covered all of the trails available, some several times.  My dog was helpful when some of the trails became questionable, keeping us on track.  We saw several deer on the trails, and scores in the park.  My difficulty rating encompasses the difficulties in determining trails,occasionally, and he searing sun, even early in the morning.  The views are worth it, hands down.  Wear a hat.  Clearly my favorite place to hike in this area, with or without camping.

User: crocodile235 - 6/1/2007  [View Log Page]
Rating: 4stars Difficulty: 2point5stars Solitude: 3stars
Distance: 5.00 Miles Duration: N/A
Wildflowers everywhere...
User: lordvallsbyrd - 5/19/2007  [View Log Page]
Rating: 5stars Difficulty: 3stars Solitude: 3stars
Distance: 5.00 Miles Duration: 2 hours
This was a nice, enjoyable hike through the hill country with beautiful wildflowers in bloom everywhere. Only saw one other person on the trail but due to the area this park is in it only gets a three for solitude.
Not deep wilderness but some nice country side
User: BrianJ - 1/28/2007  [View Log Page]
Rating: 4stars Difficulty: 2stars Solitude: 4point5stars
Distance: 7.00 Miles Duration: N/A
Good Stuff. Only people I saw was one family of 5 coming off the trail as I was coming on. The Park HeadQuarters will hand you a map that marks off three short trails in Green, Yellow, and Blue. No trail names just the colors! Anway you can hit all three trails by changing paths at the connectors. Probably about 7 miles total. No real elevation change and it definitely didn't feel like deep wilderness solitude since you can see houses and roads on all of the vistas. Nonetheless a nice quick 2 hr in and out hike.Scenery: Bright colors on the rocks, 3 deer, and there was one interesting plateau that was swarming with prickly pear.
HOT!!
User: big tex - 5/30/2006  [View Log Page]
Rating: N/A Difficulty: N/A Solitude: 5stars
Distance: 7.00 Miles Duration: N/A
Never do this hike in the summer. It's hot and the trail is a bit confusing so tempers can get out of hand. My group of 4 split up at one point due to an arguement. Devil's water hole was fun though jumping off the cliffs.
User: LVX - 4/23/2006  [View Log Page]
Rating: 3point5stars Difficulty: 1point5stars Solitude: 3stars
Distance: 8.20 Miles Duration: N/A
Going after Rocky Bluff we were able to extend this 7 mile hike a little further. Great hike! It rained quite a bit the past week so there was a great deal of color along the trail. Not to difficult and a great morning. L
One of the best hikes within 60 miles of Austin
User: figment - 3/6/2006  [View Log Page]
Rating: 5stars Difficulty: 3point5stars Solitude: 4stars
Distance: 5.00 Miles Duration: N/A
Inks Lake State Park has some great Central Texas hiking. The hike is mostly along pink granite, similar to Enchanted Rock's Loop trail, and unlike almost any other trail in Central Texas (most are rocky with limestone). In addition, the trail follows the contours of the lake for stretches, ensuring a beautiful view. I took the outside edge of all of the trails in the park, including a diversion through the hike-in camping area. Didn't see any tents back in the primitive camping area, but it would be a nice place to camp.
Loved the terrain and the wildlife.
User: BlazerMan - 3/4/2006  [View Log Page]
Rating: 4stars Difficulty: 2point5stars Solitude: 4stars
Distance: 10.00 Miles Duration: N/A
I spent the day out hiking the green, blue, yellow, and red trails in order to map them with my GPS for the Central Texas Challenge team. The team used the data to make some hiking maps: topo and aerial.

Austin Explorer, I hope you don't mind that I used some of your waypoints for reference points on the map.

I've got flickr photosets from around the state park and from the challenge.
Relaxing Hill Country hike
User: yeiyel - 3/2/2006  [View Log Page]
Rating: 3point5stars Difficulty: 1point5stars Solitude: 4stars
Distance: 7.00 Miles Duration: N/A
You gotta love that hill country. The colors were beautiful, the weather was perfect, the views were wonderful. There is alot to admire during this hike. We were on the trail by 9:00 am, saw one person on the trail until the very end. The last 1/4 mile we must have seen 50 people.

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