On Saturday morning Evelyn wanted to go for a walk. She tries to get us to walk every day, but it’s hard dragging my hermit-like self out of the apartment. However, it was a beautiful day, so I agreed.

During my neverending search for onions (see Bat Cave Trip), we had spotted a park. It was located near the end of our normal walk, near a grocery store. (We are located at 5200 north. We normally walk down to 38th street.) So, I figured that would be a good place to check out. At the least it would be a nice place to sit and relax before heading home.

We got to the park and it was really quite nice. A bit of history, too: It’s the location of a massacre (always nice to see on your relaxing walk) and some pools (filled with natural springs). We decided to walk around a bit and saw that the trail headed south. Cool, I thought. We’re always trying to find new places to walk. (I love to walk, but hate dealing with cars. Same deal with riding my bike.) So, we headed south.

After crossing a non-busy street, we encountered a sign. Lo-and-behold, we were at the northern part of the Shoal Creek Greenbelt. For those of you stuck in Chicago, a greenbelt is a large section of land designated for public use. They are long, narrow (or, not so narrow) streches of land that are used for parks, trails, and other public use. There are several in the Austin area, and they are a big reason why Austin is often called “a city in a park”.

Now I had a challenge! The sign had a nice arrow pointing toward “Town Lake”. Being the hydro-guy that I (now) am, I knew this meant the Texas Colorado river, located in the heart of downtown Austin.  So on we went.

As we headed south we followed Shoal Creek. It’s dry in some parts, and flowing in others (depending on recent rains). It’s a very pretty area and you quickly forget that you are in the heart of the city. At around 31st street the trail ends and you need to walk on a side-street for about 2 blocks. Some very nice houses here, with some interesting designs. At around 31st and Lamar (a major north-south street–think Western in Chicago) the trail starts again.

The section south of 31st street is very cool. Lots of Buda limestone (remember: pronounce it like “beauta..” like beautiful) on the east and Del Rio Clay toward the west. Very cool limestone formations. It’s supposed to be a mixed trail (bikes and hikers), though I would walk my bike through this section (otherwise I’d lose my head). You’d never know that you are sitting in the middle of a city, that’s for sure.

When you exit this very pretty area you come to a park, running from about 29th street through 24th. You have frisbee golf here, plus it’s a non-leash dog area. As I mentioned in the past, Austin is a very pet friendly town. Tons of dogs and cats. This section of the trail is full of dogs, though they are all happy and sniffing. In other words, if you are afraid of dogs, don’t be. (On our way back a big pitbull barked at us. The owner apologized. Not to say that everyone is so cool, but it does show you how many people think down here.) Evelyn was in heaven.

Toward the south end of the park we encountered more frisbee golfers, some people throwing mini-horseshoes, an art class out painting, and several film crews. Certainly and electric group! Onward we traveled! I would not stop until the trail did.

Twisting and turning we headed south. Finally, at 12th street, we (or should I say, Evelyn) decided to stop and eat. We looked around a bit and Evelyn chose Thundercloud Subs (right at Shoal Creek and 12th–one block east of Lamar). We had not been in there before, but we were hungry. Yum! Yum! I had a meatball sub, and Ev had a avocado and roast beef. Nice small place. Cool staff, and excellent subs. (We are lucky enough to have one about 2 blocks from our apartment. Now I have another place to eat out.)

Now well fed, we continued south, entering the downtown area. The garbage in the creek increased, but it was still a nice walk. It was interesting to see the mix of big new construction with old single family homes. (It shows how much Texans value property rights, which is nice.) We continued on, and encountered a power plant, creek crossings, and bits of very old railroad tracks.

Finally, Town Lake was in site. Horray! From 5200 north to the zero line in Austin! Horray! The area around Town Lake (Colorado) was much busier, with tons of walkers, bikers, and everything in-between. Lots of fishermen, too. (Evelyn, in her friendly way, found out that there was a carp fishing tournament in progress.)

I was proud: To have walked from ”up north” all the way down to where Shoal Creek empties into Town Lake. Success! It was very cool, to have walked through the heart of a city without having to deal with crappy traffic. It’s one of the reasons why I find Austin to be a very interesting city.

Now, of course, the only problem is walking back home!

(Ev didn’t have her camera at the time. Not her fault, since she didn’t know I’d be dragging her 52 x 2 blocks. We’ll take it on our *next* Saturday walk, so you’ll be able to see some of the really cool sights in Austin.)