Hikers 'devastated' as popular waterfall by Lake Georgetown partially collapses
A popular spring-fed waterfall that enchanted people who saw it flowing over a huge rock overhang covered with moss at Lake Georgetown took a big hit during the recent arctic front.
Part of the rock wall overhang collapsed, said Scott Blank, the lake manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which controls the lake. "I think the freeze caused it to crack and fall," said Blank.
"Mother Nature will do what she wants," Blank said. "It's just a fluke deal that we had that cold front come in so quickly after the rains we got and overly saturated the area, so it froze better."
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The springs are still running over the part of the cliff that remains, he said.
Officials did not see the rock fall but found out when someone else noticed it had collapsed and contacted them.
"We are pretty devastated about the collapse," said Sean Connolly, an Austin hiker who visited the falls often with his wife. "I wonder how many thousands of years it was hanging there," he said.
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Connolly said that he and his wife, Margita, first saw the falls in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic started.
They hiked or paddle-boarded to it more than 20 times over several different seasons, he said. Before the freeze, people could stand underneath the mossy rock overhang and see the water dripping down in front of them.
"It was a peaceful, special place," said Sean Connolly. "Always filled with birds. Always refreshing. Far enough away to stay secluded. The cold spring water always reviving in the middle of a long hike on a hot Texas day."
Sean Connolly said the site "must sound different now."
"I'm so glad I got to experience it the way it was," he said, "but so sad that it won't be that way anymore."
Blank said the waterfall was a popular destination for many hikers who could reach it by walking a little more than two miles on a loop of the Good Water trail starting at Cedar Breaks Park at 2100 Cedar Breaks Road.
In 1879, a man who owned the land where the springs start, James Knight, started a vegetable garden and grew the first strawberries in Williamson County, according to a marker near the springs. R.M. Crockett, followed by the Redard brothers, continued to operate the truck garden and sold the produce in Austin, the marker says. It is not a Texas historical marker.
The springs will continue to flow over the cliffs at Lake Georgetown and the moss will probably grow back enough to make the place "look intriguing enough" in about five to 10 years, Blank said.
Sean Connolly said he and his wife will keep returning to the site. "I'm interested to see how it grows and changes," he said.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Popular waterfall by Lake Georgetown collapses; hikers 'devastated'
