Pedernales Falls

yet another great perk about Austin...a superb State Park only 1 hour away down beautiful, hilly highway 290.
it has been a treat living so close to Big Bend NP, also only 1 hour from home. after living in the high desert for a year i've gained a much deeper appreciation for a damp, spring morning. there's something to be said about traipsing through the desert, rock collecting, arroyo following, dry air alleviating any possibility of sweating. but how refreshing to unzip a tent flap and hearing, smelling rushing water only footsteps away. although i didn't go camping while i was there, i envisioned what it would be like. i felt a deep connection to the hill country. maybe it's my history with the Georgia, Carolina, and Virginia mountains that made me feel so at home here. there are definite similarities, maybe not at first site, but there are resemblances in the trails that are so dense with trees you can't see where the bend in the path goes. and green so green it's an overload to look at. they say that the Pedernales is so clean you can drink from it. there has never been cattle or factories along it's banks, and so the water runs clean and clear. one of the last remaining fresh water sources of it's kind.
i listen to this calling inside, and wonder what it means. one of my life's mottos, try everything at least once. the emphasis on "everything" meaning only as opportunity allows. of course i can't do EVERYTHING. maybe everything to my personal standards is doable. but only in that sense.
so all this talk about Austin and the hill country may be a foresight into the future....
...any place i call home has to have plenty of outdoor things to do.

although swimming isn't allowed in the falls area (above) due to frequent drownings and flash flooding, there are swimming holes further down stream...

still too cold to get in

i got lucky and witnessed a river urchin, a phenomenom

that no one has been able to explain