Great Hills Park (Austin, TX) – July 2020

 This was the first weekend of July where I was able to do a park walk as part of the Georgetown Running Club’s 2020 Summer Tour.  It was actually Independence Day when I did this, and since we were all under lock-down at the time, it made sense to go to a park.  Great Hills Park is a Y-shaped park just west of 183, and there were three major entry points to it (and a couple minor ones).  The one closest to me was at Taylor Draper (hence the sign).

 This is a very easy trail, and most of it has the cover of trees, which was nice to be in the shade of the bright day.  There’s about a half-dozen places where the trail crosses the stream (creek, brook, whatever), and only a couple have bridges.  One crossing is the top of a dam, which is the water is too high it becomes impassable.  The other ones require some jumping or reaching from one rock to another to cross (which is also made more difficult when the water is higher).  Obviously I didn’t have that issue today.

 On this trip I made sure to do the entire trail, and took all options which would lead me to an entry point (just to be able to say I’ve done them all).  One section where there was a clearing there were a few “bat houses” set up, which was nice to see shelters for the wildlife.  Other than bugs, some squirrels, and a bird here-and-there, I didn’t see any other wildlife.

Brushy Creek Greenbelt West Trail (Cedar Park, TX) – June 2020

 This part of the Brushy Creek Greenbelt I’m calling the “west trail” simply to differentiate it from the other areas I’d been this month as part of the Georgetown Running Club’s 2020 Summer Tour.  Starting at Lake Park (off of Parmer) were I parked, I’d walked west towards the YMCA Camp near Old 183 (Bell Blvd).  Much of this has the actual “Brushy Creek” flowing on your right when heading this direction.  I did one of the side trails on this trip, which was known as the “Picnic Trail” due to its relative ease.

 Along the main pathway were two items which I wanted to note.  One was some moss growing on a rock face with a vertical slit.  It reminded me of a particular piece of anatomy, and refer to it as such.  The other was the waterfall, which was right at the edge of the YMCA camp.  There’s a nice grassy section next to it which you could bask in the sights and sounds of this, which I took a few moments to do.  And when you have the opportunity, so should you.

Brushy Creek Greenbelt East Trail with Oak Brook Trail (Cedar Park, TX) – June 2020

 As I was exploring the trails of Brushy Creek which I hadn’t been on as part of the Georgetown Running Club’s 2020 Summer Tour, it was a matter of “taking the path I haven’t done yet.”  I parked at Champion Park, went over the bridge there, and started on the trail to the east.  After following this for a short distance, there was a spur to the right (south) which I explored.  One of the things I came across was a “Wish Tree.”  This was a tree where people would write good things on tags, and hang them on a branch.  I don’t know how long people had been doing this, but there were a lot of tags present.  This was a really cool find, and very inspiring.

 That spur eventually ended at Avery Ranch Blvd at short distance from the Patsy Sommer Elementary School.  I turned around and went back to the main trail.  While the main trail appeared to end a short distance after that, there was a dirt “more wild” trail which paralleled the creek.  There was some really nice rock formations I got to see.  This “wild trail” ended when it rejoined the main trail at the west end of Olson Meadows Park.  There were two southern extensions from there, and I checked both out.

 The first went to a pond at the back of a neighborhood.  But the other one, which was technically called Oak Brook Trail went on a nice undeveloped section behind some housing tracts.  Now this spur ended where Avery Ranch Blvd crosses Morgan Hill, so I had to turn around after that.  I considered taking Avery Ranch back to the other spur, but I wanted to walk in wild areas, not along the street.  Coming back on Oak Brook Trail allowed me to see a deer and her fawn hanging out there.  Obviously I didn’t approach, but they allowed me to get some pictures of them.  That was a great bonus, and something unexpected which made nature hikes so awesome.

Brushy Creek Lake Park and East Trail (Cedar Park, TX) – June 2020

 I really have lost count how many times I’ve been on the main trail at Brushy Creek.  But that’s kind of the point.  I’d been on the main trail so many times that I hadn’t explored any of the side areas.  I was doing this as part of the Georgetown Running Club’s 2020 Summer Tour, and that was a good motivating factor.  I knew it would take a number of different trips to fully complete the trails, but I would do what I could on each visit.

 I started at the Lake Park area, headed east over the dam, and went past Champion Park.  There I crossed a small bridge and followed the “parallel trail” east.  I went past Olson Meadows Park, and that was my turnaround spot because by then I had just enough water to get back to the car.  I was a good start, but I did notice a number of side trails off the parallel one, so I saw new places to explore.