Best Trails near Austin, Texas

My favorite trail in Austin however mostly dry during mid-summer so bring extra water. Trail mostly shaded.

So I'm running this park the other day (as I do often), and decide to take some "trails" that I haven't taken yet. I see a sign a few feet in the wood, crumpled over (I'm assuming vandalism), that said "no tresspassing". OK, I'll just stay on the trail then.

Well I hit a few dead ends with the same signs on the trail itself (this is in the southern portion of the trails/park). The views from these parts of the trails where really nice, but then i saw a chainlink fence, and on the other side of the fence facing away from me was a "no trespassing" sign". Oops! I guess that sign in the woods, was supposed to be on the trail itself.

I scurried down a somewhat steep embankment, ran down a dry creek bed, and found the main trail again. It was a fun day.

Ran here again lately. Very good place for running. You get a mixture of dirt trails, pebble trails, rocky/rooty trails. And plenty of hill climbing. Want some creek crossings? Just head to the nearby Bull Creek Greenbelt.

This specific trail also has a VERY steep hill climb. In the middle of all those switchbacks, there is an incline-trail. You're hiking and running and walking and you're getting tired, more and more switchbacks, you need to get home soon- that incline-trail is good for that. But also, it's a GREAT workout. Huge step ups, very long, very steep.

Ran here again lately. Very good place for running. You get a mixture of dirt trails, pebble trails, rocky/rooty trails. And plenty of hill climbing. Want some creek crossings? Just head to the nearby Bull Creek Greenbelt.

The "entrance" is hard to find. After turning onto Jester take the first left. Then at the round about, go right and right and all the way up to the back corner. You'll just see trees and more trees behind the parking lot, but at that very back corner (the most southeast corner) you'll see a faint trailhead.

But this trail isn't for the faint of heart. The noise from the street never stops, but for a trail running workout this isn't much of a problem. This "trail" is really a lot of trails, twisty and turny, rooty and rocky, ups and downs, etc. This sucker has lots of forks, loops, intersections, etc.

There are zero signs, non period. There are very few places where people have attempted to place rocks to mark trails. Some of the trails are hard to see. No amenities.

At the beginning of the trails, you're every close to some office buildings and a major road. But despite this, this place is rather good wilderness. The foliage and rocks and such almost look like you're in a Narnia or LotR forest. And you can just "pretend" (if that's not too corny) that the road noise is, I don't know, a waterfall or major wind, lol.

All in all, great workout and great place for trail running, if you're used to no signage and faint trails.

Running here is always a treat. Plenty of people, but not so many that's overwhelming. The two sides of the park, the trails on each side (once past the creek) are very good hills climbs. The more north side has some ups and downs and is a bit technical, a few turns. The more south side is one gradual, mostly smooth (but rocky) run straight up. I suggest for a good workout, start on one side and run to the back, then run the other side to the front, then reverse. Good hill repeats this way.

And if you stay on the north/east side of the creek, and run some of the trail (not marked on the map) along the creek, you'll definitely have a good chance at spotting some deer.

Ran here again recently. In my last review I talked about how rocky and rooty this trail is. Well it is rocky and rooty, but after running at various other trails in the Austin area, I gotta say that you could actually get the same stuff but a lot more of it at some of the other trails, trail systems. Don't get me wrong: these trails here are still way cool. I think I just typed a but hastily last time.

This time I actually saw some other people, and I didn't run back down the trail but instead looped around on the road like the map has. Also, a deer was on one of the trails and wouldn't leave, so I had to go the other way, which was fine.

Same review as the "Towne Lake Austin Trail",.
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Parking is most abundant at Zilker Park. Elsewhere, you could be driving the streets of that part of downtown Austin for hours and never find a single good spot. This trail has plenty of restrooms, water, exercise equipment, water craft, etc. along the way. Trail is very wide in most places, and very VERY wide in some places. Very well marked, and well maintained. But if you're looking for a wilderness experience, go elsewhere. The scenery is nice, nice trees and flowers, a nice lake, cool looking urban buildings and sculptures and other stuff. But it's in the middle of an urban area, right next to busy roads most of the time. You will never not here cars and construction and such. But hey, sometimes you don't need a backwoods, rough hike- just a nice stroll which this is. And almost all of it is shaded.

As for trail running, well, it's not really for trail running. I've run here a few times, and mostly it's good for those long continuous runs (versus running slower due to high stepping over roots and rocks, twisting and turning of the trail, ups and downs, etc) It's still a good place to run, if...

If you don't mind what seems to be hundreds of people. People with strollers, people with dogs, people running, walking, biking fast and slow. Half the people don't move out of the way, some of them can be in groups of two or three and somehow take up the entire 10 foot spread of the trail- but that's less about the trail and more about people just don't care.

I give it a three- I would give it a two for trail running, but the amenities, and the general "serenity" it somehow has, even despite all the people and cars and such, I guess it's worth an extra star.

Parking is most abundant at Zilker Park. Elsewhere, you could be driving the streets of that part of downtown Austin for hours and never find a single good spot. This trail has plenty of restrooms, water, exercise equipment, water craft, etc. along the way. Trail is very wide in most places, and very VERY wide in some places. Very well marked, and well maintained. But if you're looking for a wilderness experience, go elsewhere. The scenery is nice, nice trees and flowers, a nice lake, cool looking urban buildings and sculptures and other stuff. But it's in the middle of an urban area, right next to busy roads most of the time. You will never not here cars and construction and such. But hey, sometimes you don't need a backwoods, rough hike- just a nice stroll which this is. And almost all of it is shaded.

As for trail running, well, it's not really for trail running. I've run here a few times, and mostly it's good for those long continuous runs (versus running slower due to high stepping over roots and rocks, twisting and turning of the trail, ups and downs, etc) It's still a good place to run, if...

If you don't mind what seems to be hundreds of people. People with strollers, people with dogs, people running, walking, biking fast and slow. Half the people don't move out of the way, some of them can be in groups of two or three and somehow take up the entire 10 foot spread of the trail- but that's less about the trail and more about people just don't care.

I give it a three- I would give it a two for trail running, but the amenities, and the general "serenity" it somehow has, even despite all the people and cars and such, I guess it's worth an extra star.

So this time I went in the morning, plenty of parking on the main road at the north end. Running was good. Temperature was good, only one other guy at first on the whole trail, saw him a few times.

Somewhere along the trail, I took a left instead of right/straight, without realizing it. It was a good hill climb, and I ended up at the loop 360 access. On the map here, the trails at the 360 access show a sharp turn, then up the access road. I guess I took some other trail offshoot a little further down the trail, and like I said it was a good hill climb.

After discovering I locked my keys in my car, I decided- while waiting for my wife to come get me- to go down the hill of life and take an eastward turn to the dam. Less trees, more open, you can see the cliff face by the creek that way. The trail I was on was smooth single track, but I only went for a little ways- had to get back to my car before my wife did :P I'm definitely gonna explore this more when I have the time.

Best trail in Austin if you want a good work out or to train for elevation.

This is a great hike to see some beautiful Texas scenery. Clearly marked, some rocky areas and others flat make for a fun hike but not too intense. The only caution I would make is that when hiking this trail in the summer, there appears to be no water left in the river so the hike is missing the waterfalls (though I'm sure it's beautiful in the spring time).

Bring water! Best hike ever! River its dry in summer, but its worth the hike!

Terrain is way to soft for a newbie rider and there is zero markings so talk about annoying having to stop and pull your phone out ALL the time