Inks Lake State Park in the Summer

Inks lake state park Updated: September 19th, 2026

All information is current as of the writing of this post. Check out Inks Lake State Park website here for the most up to date information.

Location: Burnet, TX, 90 minutes outside of Austin

Hours: 6am-10pm and the park store/headquarters is open 8:30am-5pm daily

Types of Activities Available: Hiking, camping, geocaching. In the water: swim, scuba dive, fish, water ski, boat, and paddle.

Cost: Day use is $7 per adult and 12 and under free

If you’re looking to visit a state park in central Texas then look no further than Inks Lake State Park. This park is located 1.5 hours away from Austin and is about 10 minutes away from Longhorn Cavern State Park. It is super convenient to have two unique parks so close together! 

When my husband and I planned to visit all of the Texas state parks, we added these two to the list to visit first. We love that we got to visit and check off two state parks in the same trip. It made for a perfect weekend getaway. We went on this trip over the Fourth of July holiday weekend and the weather was hot! You will want to consider the weather before deciding on what time of year to visit this state park. If you are interested in visiting multiple Texas State Parks, I recommend getting a passport book to get stamps in at each state park. It is a fun way to get a souvenir from each place without spending a lot of money.

Unlike Longhorn Cavern State Park, Inks Lake has more trails to explore and hike. Although, it is still not an extensive trail system at only 9 miles total of hiking trails. We chose to hike the Pecan Flats Trail as well as the Devils Water Hole Nature Trail to take us to the water hole. We knew we wanted to end the hot July day with getting in the water hole. My husband and I love to hike, but unfortunately the trails that we hiked here had very little shade. Due to the lack of shade, you will want to consider bringing items like sunscreen, plenty of extra water, and hats to beat the heat and sun. You will also want to time your hike to go in the morning or evening outside of the hottest parts of the day, if you are hiking in the Summer.

Pecan Flats Trail

Distance – 1.8 miles loop trail

Difficulty – Moderate

Despite the heat on the day we visited, we thoroughly enjoyed hiking this trail. If you do hike it in the summer, make sure to start early and bring plenty of water. It is predominately unshaded and it makes for a hot hike. Parts of this trail pass the primitive camp sites. As I am not much of a camper, I have never used one and so I enjoyed passing these and looking at them. The beginning of the hike is easier, but as you pass the cutoff trail, it becomes more challenging. If you would like to explore this hike but not go all the way around, you can take the shortened version of the hike by using the cutoff trail. It will remove about half a mile from the hike and also the harder section.

After hiking Pecan Flats trail, we ventured over to the Devil’s Waterhole. Visiting in the summer is the perfect time for this activity! The water was refreshing and there was plenty of space for a lot of people to hang out and swim in the water. Some people had flotation devices and many people were cliff jumping. One thing I would recommend is bringing water shoes to help protect your feet. There is a short nature trail that you will take to get to the waterhole, so you will want to bring proper walking footwear as well. Past the water hole is two additional hikes: Valley Spring Creek Trail (.9 miles loop) and Devil’s Backbone Nature Trail(1.3 miles one way) that connects to Valley Spring Creek Trail. I wanted to go to the nature trail as there is a scenic overlook of the waterhole. We started down the Valley Spring Creek trail but we both decided we were too hot and wanted to get in the water. We will have to go back and explore these other hikes on a cooler day.

Going hiking in the morning and then later swimming in the lake proved to be a nice and refreshing way to end our time at Inks Lake State Park. Have you been to this state park? What did we miss on this visit? Tell me about your experience in the comments below!

Check out all of the Texas State Parks that we have visited here!