Barton Creek. Every time I tell people I like to hike they ask “Have you been to Barton Creek”. ugh! Ok Austinians it’s a nice walk, it’s not that good of a hike. A very unchallenging trail except the far end where the “Hill of Life provides some elevation gain. Otherwise it’s a flat trail through an overgrown creek bottom , a creek I might add that doesn’t even flow all the time.. I went once, been there done that, won’t go back except maybe in a pinch.
I intentionally went to Barton Creek after alot of rain. I had researched the trail and in most of the picture the creek was dry or just a scattering of barely running pools. A hint for ya Austin, Bull Creek is much better.
Barton, the creek rises in the Texas Hill Country near the city of Bee Cave and flows to the Colorado River at Zilker Park just above Lady Bird Lake.
Barton Creek is a long trail with a couple of nice waterfalls when the creek is flowing. I think it’s the swimming holes that draw people but who wants to go swim in what will probably a pretty stagnant pool of water in an urban creek? Not I.
The two main falls are the Twin Falls and Sculpture Falls.
I have no picture of Twin Falls because there were so many people swimming and lounging on the rocks it was impossible.
Sculpture Falls was a pretty area. I continued up the trail and found the next water feature the Hill of Life Dam.
Here I decided to stop for lunch. It was the best I had found so far on this trail. After a snack here I figured it was time to ascend the “Hill of Life”. It was a good climb and many runners were running up and down the hill.
the Hill of life rises 300 feet in a third of a mile so it is quite steep. It was a good workout 3. 5 miles into my hike. I topped the hill in a subdivision so just turned around and headed back down.
Many people want to go hike with me. They think this trail is a hike. The trail was really just an uninspiring walk in the woods. Not for me.
Old Man Wandering 