In Southeast Austin, Onion Creek cuts through McKinney Falls State Park on its way to merge with the Colorado River a few miles away. It also provides an exciting beginning to the park’s Homestead Trail, which requires a creek crossing to reach.  

Hikers must pick their way across the creek at the Lower Falls, a broad limestone shelf where water tumbles down a series of 10-foot waterfalls through chutes cut in the rock. You may get your feet wet, or you may be able to hop from rock to rock to get across. Use caution!

You’re not the first to cross here. Missionaries, soldiers and traders once used it to travel from Mexico into Texas and Louisiana along El Camino Real de los Tejas.

Once across the creek, you can see evidence of more recent settlement. By 1850, Thomas McKinney, the park’s namesake, was living along the creek. Remains of his homestead and gristmill can be seen along the trail. The stone walls hold the story of a crumbling personal empire, slaves, farming and family life.

From there, the trail winds through 3 miles of oak-cedar forest, forming a loop. Hey, you’ll even see the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department headquarters building along the way.

The park has been busy in recent years extending the trails past the Homestead Trail. Now, the Flint Rock Loop Trail offers an additional 1.5 miles of trail off the Homestead Trail — up and down hills, over bridges and past a pond. Beyond that, the Williamson Creek Overlook Trail extends hiking options even further. Its 1.1 miles of trail — to the edges of the park — feature a commanding vista along a bend of Williamson Creek.

Once you make your way back to the beginning of the trail, be ready to cross the creek again. Now you can add your name to the list of those who have traveled the same paths — fellow hikers, settlers and Spanish travelers.