The Pedernales River sliding and tumbling over huge tilted slabs of limestone, spectacular after rain and famously dangerous when it rises.
March through May
Big water window
in a typical year
Rain fed
What drives it
Pedernales River
Live USGS
Data on this page
gauge 08153500
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 Pedernales Falls, and when
A flash-flood river. The park warns that the water can go from a placid stream to a raging torrent in a few minutes, which is why swimming and wading are banned in the falls area entirely. Spring rain gives the best combination of flow and safety.
Typical best flow: March through May
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What the agency itself says
Flowing over and around huge slabs of limestone, the Pedernales River can be turbulent.
Gauge: USGS 08153500 Pedernales Rv nr Johnson City, TX, upstream of the falls. 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
Overlooks above the falls are a short walk from parking. Swimming and wading are not allowed in the falls area.
Pictured: Havasu Falls, Arizona. The Pedernales runs over tilted limestone slabs and rises faster than almost anything else on this site. “Havasu falls Arizona” — Stolz Gary M, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — Public domain
Common questions
Pedernales Falls flow season FAQ
The reliable big-water window is March through May. A flash-flood river. The park warns that the water can go from a placid stream to a raging torrent in a few minutes, which is why swimming and wading are banned in the falls area entirely. Spring rain gives the best combination of flow and safety.
This page reads the USGS gauge on Pedernales River (Pedernales Rv nr Johnson City, TX, upstream of the falls) 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.
It drops a great deal in dry summers, exposing the limestone slabs. The gauge upstream shows what to expect.
Pedernales Falls State Park (Texas Parks and Wildlife Department). Overlooks above the falls are a short walk from parking. Swimming and wading are not allowed in the falls area. 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: "The water in the river can rise from a placid stream to a raging torrent in a few minutes. For your safety, we do not allow swimming and wading in the Pedernales Falls area." That sentence is Pedernales 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
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 Pedernales 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
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