Saturday I'd scoped out Reimer's Ranch (near Hamilton Pool west of Austin) for us to visit. I'd read online it was known for some of the best rockclimbing in Texas. While we weren't technical climbing with the kiddos, just being in the presence of it made me feel happy. We did a lot of rock climbing in our pre-kid adventures and it'd been a while since we'd been somewhere with rocks. It is also on the Pedernales River, which I knew the kids would love.
I'd gotten both kids a little bait net for the trip, which was a huge hit. Beck would have slept with his, had we let him.
RR was BEAUTIFUL on the walk down to the river. Wildflowers and cacti in bloom everywhere.
The kids loved the giant wall.
The walk/climb down to the river was rather trecherous once you get past the little section that is gravel with a wall. We are good with trecherous, I just wasn't expecting it, and we were dragging along nets and satchels while wearing water sandals--and I was scaling rocks with a little guy strapped to me. I definitely would have brought a pack and hiking boots, had we known. It was a little bit crazy for Quinn, too, but of course she climbed like a monkey once she got over being a little freaked out. There were big boulders and ledges and little trails right along rocks. Wish I'd gotten a picture of that part, but we were too busy not falling off the side of a rock to take pictures. :) It was amazing how much the terrain changed from area to area in this place! Meadow to rocky crags to river to tropical-ey forest....CRAZY!
Here we are down at the bottom by the river:
Looking at the big boulders:
Climbing a big boulder:
The Pedernales: (which was a lot fuller than it was in the pictures I'd seen online. Those nets we dragged along were pretty much pointless)
The shore was very rocky and a little difficult to navigate--I was nervous I was going to bust my shins on an unseen rock!
Daddy and Q going for a swim:
Then we spotted a nice sandy beach across the river and decided to swim across. Matt had Quinn on his back and I had Beck. Q decided to be spastic and not follow directions, so she made it really hard for Matt to swim. Beck decided to choke me out with his arms starting about half way over, so by the time I got close to the shore I was about to pass out from lack of air. Then once we got onto shore Beck started trembling violently and crying, I guess from being too cold with his fever. So Matt quickly swam him back across (which is further than these pictures make it look). Some other people had a towel they let us use. I gave Quinn a stern lecture on following directions on my back and we made it back uneventfully. Beck was having a hard time getting warmed up, so we decided to head out. We definitely felt like "those parents" with no towels, no map, a little underdressed for the terrain, and having little guys in a pretty hard to hike into area. But this is Texas. I have never had that happen before. Typically there is a paved path to the water source and never anything trechrous. And for that very reason Reimer's Ranch is one of the coolest places I've been in Texas!
We climbed a big boulder up above the water. Q did it herself and was so proud.
We took more of a "trail" back out. It was A-MAZING. I felt like we were in a rainforest. Huge cedars, ferns, bubbling springs coming out of the ground. Seriously....it was awesome!
Here we are next to a super-clear, very cold spring:
The poison ivy also thrived there--it was gigantic! And here we were with Matt, who breaks out even glancing at the stuff. Lovely.....
Look at how healthy that stuff is!
My tree huggers, giving some love to a huge cedar.
And a kiss:
There were outcroppings and caves that were so cool. We didn't spend a lot of time exploring these, but I totally want to go back!
We passed a few climbers.
And....done! We survived.
And he found a giant drain!
So I give Reimer's Ranch two giant thumbs up....fun, beautiful, and definitely a good surprise as to what I expected! Plus the drive was so pretty through the hill country. I am ready to go back!!
