The Devil's Waterhole and Longhorn Caverns, TX

On our last day at Inks Lake, we headed out the Valley Spring Trail to check out the Devil's Waterhole which is right above the little hiking guy and the "you are here" symbol on the poster below.  It is clearly marked to warn you that jumping in from the rocks above may be hazardous due to rocks in the water so be warned if you go.

Here are Birdie and Harley heading down the trail.  Willy, Gretchen, and I were right behind her.  She is toting her camera and binoculars as there are lots of birds.

View from the trail.

Here are a couple of more intrepid hikers above us.  We went about halfway up before we decided that three doxies pulling us pell mell down the hill might not be the smartest move on our part.  The furkids had a ball on the trail and on the rock.

The waterhole is around to the right.

Of course, we encountered some wildlife on the trail.  Look closer...it's in the lower middle of the picture doing it's best to camouflage with the rock

Some more wildlife enjoying the lake.

This rock looks ready to totter right on over but there a couple of smaller rocks wedged under it.

It was a beautiful day.

Next it was back to the RV so the doxies could take their afternoon nap while Birdie and I set out for Longhorn Caverns.

I might as well admit that we got there about 15 minutes after the tour left and the next one was two hours away so we just toured the grounds.  We weren't late....we just didn't know what time the tours would be.
This is another place where the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) did some great work.

There was obviously some work to be done in through the door on the left but there were stairs up to the little parapets above.

The opening to the Cavern is around this path and then down the steps into the open bowl area.

Here you can see the land bridge above the opening.

This opening is actually a lot bigger than it appears in the photo.  You go through here and then into the cavern but you can only go in with the guide.

As we headed back to the lake, we passed this humble Texas abode.

And took this picture of the valley from up on a hill at a small rest stop.

Another wonderful day.  I'm almost caught up with posting and then I will catch up on the 250 blog posts from friends that I missed while I was gone.  I almost forgot.  If you want a thrill, be sure you come to Longhorn Cavern and Inks Lake via Park Road 4 which begins about halfway between Marble Falls and Burnett.  There are two hills with a very short valley between them.  If you want less of a thrill, take 29 west out of Burnett and go south on Park Road 4 from there.  Less trees sticking out over the road and less exciting hills.