Inks Lake State Park

This article's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for suggestions. (May 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Inks Lake State Park
Devil's Waterhole in Inks Lake State Park
Location	Burnet County, Texas
Nearest city	Burnet
Coordinates	30°43′52″N 98°22′14″W / 30.73111°N 98.37056°W / 30.73111; -98.37056
Area	1,201 acres (486 ha)
Established	1950
Visitors	232,690 (in 2022)[1]
Governing body	Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
Website	Official website

Inks Lake State Park is a state park located in Burnet County, Texas, United States, next to Inks Lake on the Colorado River. It contains facilities for swimming, camping, hiking, boating, fishing and general enjoyment of the natural beauty. ^[2]The landscape is hilly with a mix of forest and cleared land with ground that's rocky, mainly consisting of gneiss rock. Containing plants such as cedar, live oak, prickly pear cacti, and yuccas. Devil's Waterhole is a small extension of Inks Lake, which is almost completely surrounded by rock. ^[3]

The park has been historically a hub for resources, employment and recreation.

Many locals talk of Indigenous Americans using the land as a hunting area, although there is no evidence of such online.

Initial development was begun in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps. Although the plans where never fully fufiled, a boat house and road system with dozens of stone culverts was constructed. ^[4]

The park is located in the eastern edge of a Mesoproterozoic exposure within the Llano Uplift. The local rocks are named for the park as the Inks Lake Gneiss, a granitic gneiss dated at 1,232 million years old.^[5]

A visible, slightly pinkish rock peeks through the limestone rock in the park, a type of metamorphic rock called Valley Spring gneiss. This metamorphic rock is often mistaken for town mountain granite since they are very similar in color and texture. The small granite that only appears in the park has veins cutting through the gneiss in and around the rock.^[3]

Over millions of years, intense heat and pressure are frequently applied to the original rock that eventually formed these gneiss rocks. The original rocks were sedimentary (formed from sand, silt, and mud) and igneous (likely granite).^[6]

The most common mammals are white-tailed deer, raccoon, fox squirrel, nine-banded armadillo, skunk and rabbit. You may occasionally see fox, ringtail and coyote.^[7]

Common birds include turkey vultures, black vultures, great blue herons, snowy egrets, mallard and wood ducks, northern cardinals, scissor-tailed flycatchers, Carolina chickadees, Bewick's wrens, red-tailed hawks and house sparrows. There is a bird blind in the park.

Reptiles documented in the park are western diamondback rattlesnake, western cottonmouth, Texas coral snake, diamondback water snakes and red-eared sliders

Common trees here are Ashe juniper, honey mesquite, cedar elm, live oak, post oak, Texas persimmon, pecan and willow.

Native grasses include blue grama, sideoats grama and buffalograss. Many wildflowers, such as Texas bluebonnets, Indian blankets and Indian paintbrushes, bloom in the spring.

A wide variety of cacti, from the prickly pear to the tasajillo, barrel cactus and lace cactus groin the park. You will also see yucca and beebrush.

Conservation Pool Elevation usually stays around 888.22 ft. msl; however, this lake does fluctuate about 1 foot annually.

Inks lake water clarity can be seen as clear to slightly stained mostly throughout the year. It tends to have higher turbidity during the rainy season due to excessive amounts of runoff.

Although diving and swimming are allowed at the waterhole, there is no lifeguard.

All species of fish in the park are currently managed under statewide regulations. Bow fishers on this lake are subject matter to a special regulations which is enforced by the LCRA (Lower Colorado River Authority).^[8]

Fish have been stocked previously in the reservoir in the late 1980s and early 1990s and currently presents fishing opportunities.^[9]

It includes under-rated largemouth bass and Guadalupe bass populations, along with several species of sunfish (bream). White bass are regularly caught in the reservoir, and a low-density white crappie population is present. Channel and flathead catfish occur throughout the reservoir.^[10]

^[11]

Inks Lake offers a wide variety of cover and structure for fish species. The shoreline contains various rock piles, ledges, and rock banks. Brush piles and gravel beds have been placed near fishing piers and other strategic locations to attract more fish.

Several private boat docks, particularly on the west side of the lake, hold fish year-round. Water in the reservoir is fairly clear.^[12]

• Inks Lake State Park from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department website. January 8, 2006.
• U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Inks Lake State Park from the USGS website. January 17, 2006.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Inks Lake State Park.

• Inks Lake State Park from the Handbook of Texas Online
• Film of Inks Lake State Park in Adventure at Our Door (c. 1959) from the Texas Archive of the Moving Image