Onion Creek drops over a set of hard limestone ledges here on its way to the Colorado, and the rock is the tell: this is Austin Chalk and the harder beds beneath it, the first limestone the highway has met since leaving the Hill Country side of the state. The creek drains off the Edwards Plateau and crosses the Balcones fault zone a few miles upstream, which is why a stream on the coastal plain is running over stone at all. A bald cypress beside the lower falls is estimated at around 500 years old.
Getting there
30.1838, -97.7235
Locations are approximate and may be inaccurate, on private land, or otherwise inaccessible. Check before you travel.
Hear it from the road
Whistlestop tells you this story automatically when you drive past. No searching, no tapping, nothing to ask.
