This bench delivers the best sunset view at Inks Lake State Park

This bench delivers the best sunset view at Inks Lake State Park. Pam LeBlanc photo

I first camped at Inks Lake State Park in the 1970s, when my dad pitched a giant blue canvas tent and set up bunkbed cots inside for me and my sisters.

That tent disintegrated long ago, but my fondness for the park, located an hour and 15 minutes northwest of Austin, has stuck around.

I’ve made four overnight trips this summer alone. After all this time, I still discovered something new – the Devils Backbone Nature Trail.

The trail starts near the Devils Waterhole, where people launch themselves off 30-foot granite cliffs into Inks Lake.

The Devils Backbone Trail leads past interesting granite formations. Chris LeBlanc photo

It’s a bit of a scramble to get up and over the rock formations at the start of the trail. Just follow the small paint markings strategically located along the route, which weaves through patches of prickly pear and ash around some cool granite towers. The trail curves down and leads toward Spring Creek, crossing the dry creek bed just before Park Road 4. From there it curves back toward the lake and into the woods.

Our destination? A wooden bench high on a ridge that we’d spotted from the other side of the cove. We finally found the overlook at about the 1-mile point.

Read more: Leap into a spring-fed river at Pedernales Falls State Park

Front row for the sunset

Take my word: It’s the best spot in the park to take in the sunset. And even though the campground was full the day we made the hike, we didn’t encounter a single other person.

Inks Lake State Park is one of the most popular parks in the Texas State Park system, drawing nearly 230,000 visitors in 2023.

The State Parks Board first acquired 1,200 acres along the Colorado River in 1940. The Civilian Conservation Corps, which had just completed work on nearby Longhorn Cavern State Park, went to work turning the plot into a public park shortly thereafter. Funding dried up in 1942, though, and work was temporarily abandoned. The State Parks Board finally completed the project, and Inks Lake State Park opened in 1950. 

Today, the park offers ample opportunities for hiking, birding, camping, picnicking, boating, fishing and swimming. It’s spliced with “islands” of pink granite-like rock called “gneiss” (sounds like “nice”), and visitors go for family reunions, camping, nature watching and recreating on the lake.  

I love it as a swimming destination. It’s got a huge no-wake zone, and I can swim alongside my husband as he paddles his standup paddleboard around the zigzagging shoreline.

Inks Lake State Park recently opened new restroom and shower faciltiies. Pam LeBlanc photo

Another reason to love the park? New infrastructure. The park opened four new restroom facilities in the last few years and will unveil a new headquarters building in the next few months.