Devil's River State Natural Area
Drive from Austin: 252 miles / 4 hours 50 minutes
FYI: It takes about 45 minutes just to drive into the State Park. It’s an unpaved dirt road.
Where am I? Just north of Del Rio / West of Austin, close to the Mexico border
Site we stayed at: #2, it was tucked back and private. Would highly recommend #4 or #2. The others weren’t as tucked away
What to do: Stargazing, mountain biking, fishing, you can walk the 12 mile loop around the park, or walk down to the river and explore!
We’re back! This year has been so crazy with work, travel and our wedding, we haven’t had much time to explore new state parks... but, we carved out some time to make it to Devil’s River State Natural Area, and got so lucky with the weather for mid-November.
For Veteran’s Day weekend, we packed up and headed out to West Texas to explore Devil’s River. It seems like a long drive but it went by pretty quickly. We would highly recommend checking out this park when it’s a little warmer outside, to take advantage of one of the most pristine rivers in Texas.
The whole park is pack in, pack out, so just plan ahead with your trash since there are no dumpsters in the park. When we arrived mid-afternoon, we checked into our site (#2), and did some exploring on the 12 mile loop that surrounds the park. It’s essentially the only trail, but is dog friendly, and leads to some beautiful views on the ridges. On the 12 mile trail, there are two primitive campsites you can reserve if you’d rather hike in!
It’s slightly under a mile walk down to the river. There’s a parking lot at the head of the trail that allows for easy access. The clear spring-fed water allows for beautiful kayaking, fishing, swimming, and hiking along the river. You will have to carry all of your gear down to the river, so keep that in mind, especially for kayaking.
