Wild Basin 6/20/15

Saturday, June 20th, 2015

Hike: Wild Basin, Austin, TX

Weather: HUMID, overcast, mid 70s

Hikers: Ian

Length: 3.18 miles

Court had gone up to Waco the evening before to visit her PA girls, so I was on my own on this hike.  No pets allowed.  Sorry Biff.

I hit the trail around 8:30am and the parking lot was totally full already.  I parked on the side of the drive, which I later realized was actually in a fire lane.  My bad.  But considering how full the parking lot was, I only saw about 7 or 8 other hikers, mostly bird watchers.  Guess they all took their own cars.  I haven’t been out to Wild Basin since I was probably in elementary school on a field trip, so this was completely new to me.  There are a couple of creek crossings and the trail actually has a couple of steep sections as well.

There are several loops you can make through the park and I did them all, save one small connector trail.  There are some nice views of the woods of West Austin and then the trail goes down into the valley and to a gorgeous waterfall/grotto.  The trail is well maintained and I actually came across a team doing trail maintenance at the end of the hike.  I thanked them graciously, as that is hard work.  Good views, good trail, overall a fun short hike.  I’ll be back.