A 70-foot spring-fed waterfall on the Colorado River in the Hill Country, and one of the few in Texas that does not depend on last week\u2019s rain.
year round
Big water window
in a typical year
Spring fed
What drives it
Gorman Creek
Live USGS
Data on this page
gauge 08147000
Texas Parks and Wildlife
Managed by
their rules govern
Trail status, closures and safety rules belong to each falls' managing agency, named and linked on every page.
The season
What fills Gorman Falls, and when
This is the exception that proves the Texas rule. Gorman Falls is spring-fed, so it runs when the flashy creeks nearby are dry stone. The hike in is rough and rocky, and the falls itself is fragile travertine that visitors are kept off.
Typical best flow: year round
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What the agency itself says
Take a self-guided tour to this 70-foot spring-fed waterfall. Come prepared for a 3-mile round trip hike over rough and rocky terrain.
Gauge: USGS 08147000 Colorado Rv nr San Saba, TX, the receiving river nearby; the spring itself is not gauged. The gauge reads the river, not the brink of the falls, so treat it as the trend line rather than a turnstile.
Source: USGS Water Services (National Water Information System). Instantaneous values and daily statistics services. U.S. Geological Survey data are works of the United States Government and are in the public domain. Gauge verified 2026-08-27.
Multnomah Falls in autumn: a Columbia Gorge falls that keeps respectable flow year round, and the standard against which most falls seasons get measured. “Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area Multnomah Falls, fall color - 3” — Forest Service Pacific Northwest Region — Public domain
Getting there
Access, in the agency's words and ours
A three-mile round trip hike over rough and rocky terrain, self-guided.
Pictured: Havasu Falls, Arizona. Gorman is Texas travertine on the same principle: spring-fed, so it runs when the rain-fed creeks do not. “Havasu falls Arizona” — Stolz Gary M, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — Public domain
Common questions
Gorman Falls flow season FAQ
The reliable big-water window is year round. This is the exception that proves the Texas rule. Gorman Falls is spring-fed, so it runs when the flashy creeks nearby are dry stone. The hike in is rough and rocky, and the falls itself is fragile travertine that visitors are kept off.
This page reads the USGS gauge on Gorman Creek (Colorado Rv nr San Saba, TX, the receiving river nearby; the spring itself is not gauged) live in your browser, and shows the latest flow next to the median USGS publishes for today's date, so you can see where today sits in the year. The gauge reads the river, not the brink, so treat it as the trend rather than a turnstile.
No. Spring-fed falls are the reliable ones in Texas, which is exactly why this is the state\u2019s famous waterfall.
Colorado Bend State Park (Texas Parks and Wildlife Department). A three-mile round trip hike over rough and rocky terrain, self-guided. Trail status, closures and safety rules are theirs, and their page is linked on this one; nothing here overrides what they publish.
Yosemite Falls in May, running on snowmelt that will be gone by late summer. The National Park Service tells visitors the falls can be dry by August, which is why every falls page here starts from its watershed. “Tourists below Yosemite Falls (39832011431)” by Mike McBey, CC BY 2.0
Upper and lower falls on Onion Creek inside Austin city limits, and a textbook example of a Hill Country creek that is either a torrent or bare limestone.
Flow windows are typical-year climatology drawn from the driver and the agency language quoted above, not forecasts. Live readings and per-date percentiles are U.S. Geological Survey data, public domain; the above-or-below-typical line is our comparison and is labelled as such. Access, trail and safety information belongs to Colorado Bend State Park (Texas Parks and Wildlife Department). National picture: waterfall season across the US → Hero image: “Havasu falls Arizona” — Stolz Gary M, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — Public domain
Places to stay