Texas Slabs - Llano, Texas

[KF5ZXT]

Texas Slabs - West of Austin, about 45 minutes into Hill Country. The Slabs is about 1 mile from Kingsland, 15 from Marble Falls and about an hour west northwest of Austin. River bottom with lots of sand and big granite formations. Lots of hard lines but you can also drive around anything.

"The Slabs is legal if you follow the rules. I think it is something weird like two feet elevation above top waterline on the banks begins private property. Also any purple posts designate private property. Don't joke around with it because the landowners are also gun owners there. The sheriff is a joke. He'll come out and scare the crap out of you but if you can read between the lines while he is lording it over you and being important you can see that he or anyone else cannot do a damn thing if you stay in the riverbed and follow the law. There is phenomenal 'mini-Moab' rock slabs interspersed all over the place. Pick your lines and choose anything from easy to impossible. The problem with the Slabs is the the fun rocks/stuff IS rising out of the riverbeds in the legal areas. To run the Slabs involves a multitude of river crossings and any week is different from the week before because of rain runoff and shifting of the sand around all the slab formations. Hydro locks are common. Unless it is is very dry with low river flow, do not attempt it without a lot of lift and/or snorkel setup.

My last two trips witnessed hydro locked vehicles in mid river with water up to their hoods. Once stopped, the sand (white fine beach sand) engulfs the vehicle. The last stuck required two huge 4x4 pickups with 40-something inch Swampers strapped in line to a third winch-equipped Explorer pulling the front pickups, and it still took the better part of an hour to pull the stuck out of the riverbed. It was quite a sight seeing huge swampers simply dig in and also bury themselves trying to strap out the stuck.

The Slabs offers the best rockcrawling I've seen in Texas and is smack-dab in the middle of one of the prettiest areas in the whole state. On one camping trip the Monarch butterflies were migrating and all of the mesquite trees growing out of the riverbed by our campsite were covered in millions of butterflies. Go when it's dry and you'll have the time of your life, but I'll never try there again unless there's been a long dry spell beforehand and the water level is passable." - GJarret

"The slabs aren't a good idea from what I have heard. If you are in the waterway, you aren't on private property, but it is a city easement or something like that, and they still get you." - YellowCJ

"DON'T GOT TO THE SLAB NEAR KINGSLAND!!! ever since 4Wheel parts wholesale put their article out about it the cops have been giving out trespassing tickets left and right to the tune of $500.00 per person. Unless you know the people that own the land on the banks the sheriff will get you. Even then he'll still give you a hard time." - TheLakeRat

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