The first view as we entered the trail.

My friends, Gloria and George called to see if I was up to a short walk as they wanted to exercise the dogs, Nina and Bobbie. I was feeling as though I had itchy feet after being penned up with all of the rain and floods we had and jumped at the chance to go walking. We discussed where we could go that would not either be closed of very muddy after those recent heavy rains that we had in this part of the world. We settled for the Boardwalk at Town Lake. As I had never been there although I followed the progress of its construction a couple of years back, I agreed that it would be a good place to go.

View of the city

We met at their house and I followed them in my own car to a parking place by the Austin Statesman’s Offices where, as I usually do, changed into my hiking boots and grabbed my camera and pack. I decided that I would not need a Hiking stick as we would be on a concrete bridge most of the time.

Towards IH-35 Bridge

We set of after some discussion over which way and for how long to walk, and headed east towards the IH-35 bridge. There were a lot of people of all ages and all sizes out enjoying the wonderful weather. Most were walking either singly or with others, many were on bikes and then came the real active ones, the runners. Some of the bikers were real little young people and they were tearing along keeping up with their respective parents. If they were the leaders, they would call out, “Bike on your left (or right)” as they had been taught to avoid running into the pedestrians.

Joe’s Crab Shack

It was fun just to observe the many people that were taking advantage of this relatively new addition to the trails around Austin. The weather was great and the views of the city and the lake were spectacular. The water itself was still muddied up from the recent rains but the level was practically down to normal.

Turtles, lots of them.

There was quite a bit of wildlife on display with the ducks and water birds and many, many turtles of all shapes and sizes who were busy sunning themselves on the driftwood. I even managed a picture of a white egret busy catching its lunch. Boats with gas powered motors are not allowed on the lake but electric ones are. We passed one guy busy fishing and then a lady on a paddle board who appeared to have real purpose in her direction as she was really moving fast. There was a sailboat with bright yellow sails that was also cruising the lake. The tall buildings made a nice backdrop to the sailboat.

Lady in a hurry

We passed several Apartment House built right along the shore many of whom had kayaks ready for a row on the lake. It must be a wonderful place to live but I imagine that the rents are pretty high.

One of the many residences on the way. Below is another.

We walked as far as the IH 35 bridge and George, who had been carrying Nina the entire way, decided that as she was not interested in walking, he would take her home. From where we were, his was a straight shot to walk back to the house. Gloria had Bobby with her and he was moving really well for such a well rounded little dog so we decided that we would go on a bit further. We walked a mile or so until we came to the end of the Boardwalk and turned and headed back.

I took well over 100 pictures, 80 of which I have turned into a slide show. There are several different lengths of walks available now that the Boardwalk connects the Town Lake Trail. It is possible to walk a complete loop which is about 13 miles or there is a shorter loop of 6 miles. The Trail is very popular with the Austin residents and always gets a lot of use. There are many Trail Heads all the way around the big loop so you are not tied to just one or two. I highly recommend giving it a try.

Below is a slide show set to music for your enjoyment.