Welcome Y'all!
2021 has been good so far. Well, if you live anywhere around Central Texas, or familiar with the weather conditions here, we barely get any snow. A little past new year's week, we had snow, real snow that lasted all day. Made me play Christmas music all over again and cuddle up with a cup of hot chocolate. And this now and rain lead to several creeks coming alive. One of those is the lower Bull Creek Greenbelt in Austin, TX.
Inga VanNyatten trail in Spicewood Springs, TX offers beautiful views of Bull Creek throughout the trail. The trail is named in honor of Inga VanNyatten a UT environmentalist who was said to be the driving force behind shaping this trail. A fun fact about this trail is that there is wagon tracks carved in limestone bed of the creek as proof that in 1800s this path was used as commerce highway (history matters, you're welcome!). Another fun fact is that the water from this watershed provides drinking water supply. As exciting as it sounds, let's remember the leave no trace rule and ensure that pet waste does not contribute towards any bacterial contamination. Wag bags are placed at the trailhead :)
The trail is pretty easy to moderate as there are areas with mulch and gets rocky now and then. Pets love this trail and I have witnessed several fur babies here. Just a few minutes from the trailhead is a a beautiful waterfalls that looks gorgeous especially when the waterflow is healthy. And way into the trail, you would notice several parallel trails that eventually merge to get you back on the main trail. However, these diverging trails lead you through beautiful cascading waterfalls. There are rest areas with benches through out the trail. Don't be surprised if your view from one of the rest areas is the busy and bustling highway. You may hear the highway noise now and then as you trace through the trail. It's interesting how no motor zone plus plenty of trees could make a difference in mental health and take you to zen mode and this is one such views that helps bring that awareness or may be help reflect or just not get so lost in thoughts and head to the woods :)
After almost 3/4 miles, the trail gets pretty steep, literally uphill on the canyons' shoulder without much trees to hold on to. Getting past this is said to be a beautiful view of the greenbelt. I did not get past this as with a toddler I decided to pass on the thought of championing this to get that classic view captured for my instafam. Sometimes reality is much far from what goes up or rather perceived when looking at social media posts.
I have hiked here several times in the past year and this was the first time I got to see a healthy waterflow that brought these gorgeous waterfalls alive. Loved it and highly recommend checking this out as the beauty of Bull Creek often gets lost with the attention given to Barton Creek. It's even better if you make it here after a rainy day.
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Cheers,
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