Wolf Mountain Trail

— Whenever I go to Pedernales Falls SP, in the Hill Country, outside of Austin, Texas, I often hike trails along the Pedernales River. After all, the river and its falls are the main attraction drawing people there. A few weeks ago, though, I decided to try a different trail that I had never used before.

The Wolf Mountain Trail is not a hard trail. Even though there are areas you hike where you can see the Pedernales River from a higher elevation, it is really not a river trail. The park map lists this loop as only 5.5 miles (8.85 km). My GPS tracked us with a total of 7.5 miles (12 km). The website AllTrails also lists the hike just about the same as the park map. Another site, Texas Hiking, shows the loop as 8.25 miles (13.25 km). One reason there is such a discrepancy in the mileage is another short loop inside the larger loop. We did not do that. We just continued our hike using the outside loop. Besides hiking, mountain biking is also allowed here. There are also backpacking sites along the trail if you would like to camp by the trail. Be prepared for an elevation gain of 650 feet (198 meters). The river photo you see here was taken from one of the highest points along the trail.

We hiked past several dry creeks and even the area known as Jones Springs. Unfortunately, the springs were basically stagnant with little water. Also close to Jones Springs was an area with ruins from a settler’s home. Some walls are still standing. People have also displayed some artifacts found around that area on top of a wall. Please keep in mind not to remove anything from the area if you decide to hike it.