McKinney Roughs (not to be confused with McKinney Falls) is located about 13 miles east of the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. When you see the giant squirrel statue at the place that sells pecans, go a little further and turn left just after the Lost Pines Hyatt Resort. You’re there!
The park is maintained by the Lower Colorado River Authority as a day use park for recreational hikers and horseback riders, as well as church and class groups. There’s lodging, a meeting house, a mess hall, a teepee replica and about 18 miles of hiking trails, including some that are designated as mixed-use equestrian trails.
The Bearded One and I have been out to McKinney Roughs three times in the past year, as the hiking trails all present varying degrees of difficulty, terrain and views. The first time we visited, hiking the Riverside Trail to the Cypress Trail, we were lucky enough to see probably half a dozen armadillos rummaging around the underbrush.
This was the first time I’d ever seen a live armadillo before – we’d walked down to take a closer look at the river and this tiny armored pig comes waddling up the side of the riverbed. I must’ve jumped 3 feet in the air. After that, we saw several more armadillos all sniffing out grubs in the dirt. We’ve continued to look for the little guys in the park, but haven’t seen any since. I think sticking to those two trails after a rainstorm might be the way to go for ‘dillo spotting.
Like most parks in the area, McKinney Roughs used to be a cattle ranch. Hiking some of the trails on the plateau, old ranch equipment and ancient barbed wire fences are still visible. Not only does the Pine Ridge trail provide a view of old ranch equipment, it also provides a great view of the valley on the other side of the Colorado River, which is the end of the Great Plains.
We saw several cattle one day, where the Pine Ridge and the Cypress trails meet. Out of the corner of The Bearded One’s eye, the massive black shape looked like a bear. After we remembered that there are no bears in Central Texas, we ventured a little closer and saw three grazing cows. They saw us and ran off. There don't seem to be active ranches next to the park – the closest neighbor is the Hyatt golf resort – which made us wonder if, like pigs, cows go back to feral at some point. They didn’t seem vicious, so we figured probably not.
McKinney Roughs is a really well-maintained park with diverse enough trails on 1,100 acres to make it worth visiting several times. The LCRA not only does a fantastic job maintaining the buildings at the park’s headquarters, but the trails are also clean and well-marked, and there are educational plaques every so often, telling you about the land and fires that burned there in 2008.
This park is well-deserving of a visit or three.
