A Trio of Hikes.

Dick Nichols Park – City of Austin Park.

This was the last of the trio. Dick Nichols Park is located in Southwest Austin and can be accessed from Beckett Road. I had reason to visit the Hampton Branch Public Library and the park is right behind it and as I just happened to have my camera with me, decided to take  a short walk to see what is there. The park includes a wet pond built by the City of Austin to treat rainwater runoff before it enters Barton and Williamson Creeks. It has one large pond and two smaller ones that the flood water flows into and then out on the way to the creeks. As you can imagine, this adds to the diversity of the animal and bird life within the park.

While I was there, a White Egret was busy fishing in the large pond and put on quite a display for me as I walked one of the trails. The park backs up to a residential area and I was entertained by several different dogs as they kept a watchful eye on me as I walked by, most showing their disapproval by barking loudly at this stranger invading their territory.

I don’t know the full extent of the trails as I was not really equipped to walk very far so I headed back to the starting point by the Library. Again, I passed a few people availing themselves of the beautiful weather and taking advantage of the park. There does not appear to be an available map so my guess is that the trails are few and not very long. The park covers 160 acres a lot of which is wetlands.

If you click on the first (or any) of the pictures, it will enlarge the pictures into a slide show that you can scroll along by using the side arrows. Use your escape button to get back.