Pedernales Falls, Blanco County, Texas

In April 2008 I explored some of the Texas Hill Country with a group of geology students during my undergraduate studies. The trip was fast and rugged so I only brought my dinky point-and-shoot. Here's some of what I experienced of Pedernales Falls State Park.
Swimming is no longer permitted in this area of the park because flash floods can occur with no warning. These photos are taken during extremely low flow. Imagine this entire area with all of those tiny little people completely flooded with rapid-moving currents from the Pedernales River down that long slope...

Edwards Plateau terrain. Check out that long slope -

I can't believe I have a picture of these pants before they had a bunch of holes in them! Notice the sand I'm sitting in. This is part of the river's sediment load that got trapped in the hole as water flowed over the area. The quartzose and feldspathic sands come from Precambrian gneiss and granite upstream.

Crinoid (sea lily) stem fossils (Click to enlarge) -

The park lies on the Llano Uplift which is composed mostly of Precambrian granite. (Think Enchanted Rock.) The formations you see in these pictures, however, are limestone.

I wanted so badly to sneak in there!

That's what I wanna know!!

A beautiful place to sit out and take in the sun -

Artesian Spring

Like I said, the trip was fast and rugged. I didn't get to see much else in the park but I plan to go back some day and get some photos with a real camera...