Now Open: Slaughter Creek Trail in SW Austin

There is a new place to hike and bike in town! In 1998, Austin voters approved bonds to buy water protection land. On Friday, February 5th, thanks to 4,000 hours of help from volunteers (including the Austin Ridge Riders), the City of Austin Water Utility Department agreed to share a one-foot wide strip on their 700 acres. To the right, Britt Jones, the employee who managed the project, cuts one of four orange ribbons. This is the first of what the Water Utility Department hopes will be many opportunities to share access with the public.

You may notice from the signs that this hill-country retreat can be used for horseback riding, as well as hiking and cycling -- you can bring your horse, but not your dog. For safety, the horses will travel counter-clockwise and the bikes clockwise on the double-loop, five-mile trail. Horses have the right of way (sorry, cyclists).

The trail was closed during the ribbon cutting due to the recent rains, so a boot report will have to wait, but this former ranch is being restored to the post-oak savanna of pre-settlement Texas: oak motts and grass prairies. Kevin Thuesen, program manager for the Water Quality Protection Lands, described the use of switch grass to "braid the water" for their grass barrier filter. "The idea of using retention ponds did not appeal to me," he told the crowd. He seemed rather excited about his grasses. If you don't know the difference between seep muhly and little bluestem, come by and read the interpretive plaques from the Hill Country Foundation.