Pedernales Falls State Park

The Pedernales River has been cutting through this limestone for 300 million years. The state purchased the working ranch here in 1970 and opened the park the following year. What draws people is what the river does to that ancient stone — carving falls, pools, and cascades across Blanco County. Flash floods can turn the river from tranquil to wall-of-water in minutes; the park documents this bluntly. That danger is the honest version of the place. Go anyway.