Stop 10 · Days 426–428

Horseshoe Bay & the Highland Lakes

The Hill Country's lake district — a constant-level lake in a granite basin, a river-carved cavern that was a Confederate powder mill and later a dance hall, and the pink granite quarry that built the Texas Capitol.

Timing: This leg runs in spring, which is the entire point of being here: the Willow City Loop and the roadsides along RR 1431 are the best bluebonnet country in Texas, and peak bloom is usually the first three weeks of April.

Where to stay

Horseshoe Bay Resort, or a rental on Lake LBJ
The resort has the marina and three Robert Trent Jones Sr. courses; the rentals have docks.
Open in Maps

You gotta eat this

Pie at the Bluebonnet Cafe
In Marble Falls since 1929. Order it by the slice at three in the afternoon, when they do half-price pie happy hour.
A lakeside patio at sunset
Lake LBJ faces the right way and the granite hills go pink with it.

The days here

Each day opens its own hour-by-hour page

What this stop is made of

National Parks & Forests
Landmarks & Monuments
Outdoor & Water Activities