Barton Creek Greenbelt Trail — Attraction in Austin

This review is for the section of the greenbelt that starts at the Hill of Life at 1710 Camp Craft Rd, Austin, TX 78746 and ends at South Mopac.

It’s a beautiful hiking trail that follows Barton Creek. Lots of side trails to meander and get lost on. It’s not a loop, you walk in, then turn around and walk out when you get to the end. Most of the trail is easy, except for the last half mile on the return trip when you are going back up the Hill of Life. It’s not grueling, or extremely rough, but you will get a little cardio in during this section.

There isn’t a parking lot, you park on the street in the neighborhood near the address I posted above. The trail dead ends at Mopac if you’re on the east side of the creek. But if you can find one of the trails that crosses over to the west side of the creek, you can walk a lot further. Check Google Maps to find the trails that cross over. The water was flowing pretty good when I was there due to recent rains, so I couldn’t cross over.

There’s very little signage on the trails, but it’s easy to find your way.

Very clean trails with hardly any trash at all. I only saw one plastic bottle and one bag of dog poop on the trail.

I saw lots of dogs but not even one...

Terrible trail for biking, not sure why it isn’t mentioned elsewhere but many sections of this trail are blue or even more technical with rocks after rocks after rocks. We had to get off and walk or carry our bikes at least 20 times - none of this trail is paved. The sections west of 360 are the most green but Mopac to Zilker are rough - def not for a beginner.

Aside from that, it’s very pretty and fun in the green sections though the creek is completely dry except at Sculpture Falls where it’s a small pond, no falls anywhere. This...

The trail has a main path and many side trails all along the creek. Most of the main trail is easy and some parts are moderate. If you explore some of the side trails you may encounter some rough going and in many cases will be considered hard. Regardless of what path you take it will be scenic. As with all hikes make sure you are dressed accordingly and have proper hiking shoes, plan your walking distance & time on the trail, lastly always bring...