Pierce Wanderings
Texas Hiking (and elsewhere)
Balcones Canyonlands NWR – Doeskin Ranch 1/20/19
Sunday, January 20, 2019
Hike: Balcones Canyonlands NWR – Doeskin Ranch
Weather: cool, clear, mid 50s
Hikers: Ian and Greg
Length: 3.7 miles
This is one of my favorite hikes, though I don’t do it that often because there are no dogs allowed due to it being a National Wildlife Refuge.
Greg had never been and I figured it would be a good hike to start off the new year and a good MLK Day hike. We got out to the trail head around 11am and there were actually several other cars in the lot, which was a bit surprising. We didn’t see too many people on trail though, as I think there were some families with kids and they probably didn’t do the full length of the trail.
The day was pretty and quiet and we saw several small birds flitting around along with some vultures riding the updrafts. Greg brought his fancy-pants camera and got some shots of the waterfall near the end of the hike. I’ll let the photos do the rest of the talking.
5 Comments on “Balcones Canyonlands NWR – Doeskin Ranch 1/20/19”
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Pierce Wanderings 
That is surprisingly clear water. Most of the hikes I have done in the Hill Country didn’t have water with that seeming degree of purity. What is the source?
I believe this particular creek is spring fed.
Sometimes I see a lot of cars in the carpark when I arrive and my heart sinks because I just want to be out there on my own…but then I don’t see anyone else out on the trail anyway. Nice to have a running waterfall like that to come across out on your walk. Not a lot of water out and about here at the moment, so looking forward to when we get some good rain & I can see some running waterfalls.
We had a massive drought in Texas from 2011-2014 or so and when the rains came back I had a whole new appreciation for running water. That’s why I comment on it in my blog often. There were days I thought I was going to have to move because we were going to run out of water. Hope it gets better in OZ soon!
That’s interesting to hear that Texas can get so dry as well. There’s extreme weather in all parts of the world. I’m going to love it when the seasons change and I can re-visit some walks to see everything green, running water etc. Thanks Ian.