Riverplace Nature Trail 10/19/19

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Hike: Riverplace Nature Trail

Weather: HUMID

Hikers: Ian solo with full pack

Length: 6.5 miles

Hey it’s been forever since I last blogged, but I’m not dead! Here in Austin we had a really hot August and then the hottest September on record, where most of the month was over 100 degrees every day. This makes for really not fun hiking conditions, so most of my exercise was done inside on the Peloton.

I finally got back out on the trail this past weekend to train for my upcoming hike in Yosemite and Half Dome. My buddy Greg is getting married in Yosemite and, much to the dismay of our spouses and/or fiancees, four of us have decided to hike up to Half Dome and climb it with the cables down. Normally the cables on Half Dome are elevated on poles so they form a bit of a railing for people to hold onto while climbing up the 45 degree incline, but the poles are taken down in the offseason and the cables lie flat against the rock.

I actually think the way we are doing it is safer than with the cables up because we will be roped in and have two points of connection at all times. A woman actually died falling off the cables a couple of months back while they were up because she wasn’t roped in. That said, it’s going to be a tough hike and I’ve been training pretty hard for it and then my forthcoming PCT thru hike in the spring.

Well that certainly was a lot of words. On to the hike for this blog post!

Riverplace is the best and hardest trail in Austin. Unfortunately, the HOA out there has started charging people $10 per head to hike it and not only that, they also charge $10 PER DOG. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department told them they can’t do this and that the fees are excessive, but apparently it is still being litigated in some fashion. I personally think it is ridiculous to charge for dogs, but whatever. These people have to live with themselves and I’m only out there a couple of times a year anyway.

So after a bit of chiding the money-takers at the beginning of the trail and getting my wristband that proves I paid, I started off down the trail. I brought my full pack that I will be using for Half Dome and my PCT hike. I was missing a couple of small pieces of gear and clothing, and actually doubled up on a couple of others, so it wasn’t an exact replica of my full gear list, but I think I was within a couple of pounds either direction. Base weight was right about 17 pounds without food or water.

We have also had almost zero rain for the past couple of months, so the trail was very dry, with only a few ankle deep puddles here and there.

The stairs were tough, especially with a full pack, but I persevered and was pretty proud of how I handled the steepness. Peloton has been paying off I suppose.

The views at the top are always nice too.

And a few of the local flora to finish it off.