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.
March through May
Big water window
in a typical year
Rain fed
What drives it
Onion Creek
Live USGS
Data on this page
gauge 08159000
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 McKinney Falls, and when
Onion Creek is flashy in the extreme. After rain the falls are genuinely dangerous; in a dry spell the ledges are dry rock you can walk across. The gauge is the way to know which one you are driving to.
Typical best flow: March through May
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What the agency itself says
The upper and lower falls on Onion Creek are scenic and rugged attractions.
Gauge: USGS 08159000 Onion Ck at US Hwy 183, Austin, TX, on Onion Creek at the falls reach. 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.
Rain-fed falls carry the color of their watershed: Blackwater Falls runs amber with tannin from spruce and hemlock bogs upstream, and its volume tracks the last month of Appalachian weather. “Blackwater Falls (15437499241)” by Benjamin Smith from United States, CC BY 2.0
Getting there
Access, in the agency's words and ours
Both falls are short walks from parking inside the park.
Pictured: Havasu Falls, Arizona. McKinney is the opposite case: a rain-fed Hill Country creek that is often bare limestone. “Havasu falls Arizona” — Stolz Gary M, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — Public domain
Common questions
McKinney Falls flow season FAQ
The reliable big-water window is March through May. Onion Creek is flashy in the extreme. After rain the falls are genuinely dangerous; in a dry spell the ledges are dry rock you can walk across. The gauge is the way to know which one you are driving to.
This page reads the USGS gauge on Onion Creek (Onion Ck at US Hwy 183, Austin, TX, on Onion Creek at the falls reach) 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.
Yes, routinely. Onion Creek goes to zero flow in dry stretches, and the gauge shows it.
McKinney Falls State Park (Texas Parks and Wildlife Department). Both falls are short walks from parking inside the park. Trail status, closures and safety rules are theirs, and their page is linked on this one; nothing here overrides what they publish.
In their own words: "Onion Creek can flood after rainfall. Beware of the creek\u2019s flow; contact the park for current creek conditions." That sentence is McKinney Falls State Park (Texas Parks and Wildlife Department)'s, quoted verbatim, and their page is the place to check before you go.
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
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 McKinney Falls 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