beautiful trail even in january
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jimmy peace - 1/16/2019
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Distance: 6.20 Miles
Duration: 3 hours, 30 minutes
i have never been on this portion of the green belt, i parked at camp craft entrance, , now i know why they call it the hill of life
wow..
Tough Hike
User:
mgialusis - 5/4/2014
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Distance: 3.00 Miles
Duration: N/A
Very rocky terrain; very steep, lots of mountain bikes. You'll want walking sticks for this one. Side trails are nice & shady and offer more solitude than the main steep trail.
Hill of Life packed on a sunny January Sat.
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voolevoonye - 1/11/2014
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Distance: 2.50 Miles
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No wonder solitude is rated 1 today, as the Hill of Life and the upper falls were packed with people and their dogs on this sunny Sat. after a very cold start of the new year. Introduced the hill to my 13 yrs old and she did the way back up with some minor complaints :-). On the way down we looked for a geocache off main trail which was fun. Try the trails that go off to the right. Great single trek for bikes!
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ValEpiscopo - 11/12/2013
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Distance: 1.50 Miles
Duration: 40 minutes
Hiked down "Hill of Life" and back up.
gaines creek access (mopac) to sculpture falls and back, with some detours
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barefoot mcgraw - 5/29/2010
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Distance: 4.00 Miles
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lots of folks and dogs out enjoying the water today.
also ran into a couple who were picking up litter along the trail. i need to get myself one o' them litter-grabbing thingies!
my object today (in addition to a nice stroll) was to locate and view the old stone walls/fences (mentioned on page 152 of "60 hikes within 60 miles" 2nd edition). i found them easily enough (there are a few mtn bike trails that lead up to them), though mapping them will have to wait for another day.
has anyone mapped them before? i can't find much info about them online. i figure they're from an old ranch/farm, though the hiking book says "Local legend has is [sic] that these rock formations were part of a failed Spanish mission from the early 1700s."
to me they look like the sort of walls you build as you pull rocks out of the field so the plow doesn't bork on them, but they are in some interesting arrangements.
added some pictures. coords are included in the descriptions.
Whoa...
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jrod512ATX - 5/16/2010
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Distance: 2.60 Miles
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I registered just to comment on this place. This place is awesome. A word about the Scottish Woods/Camp Craft Rd entrance. Going down was cake for me. Going up...was a death march. Its my fault for not eating a morsel of food ALL day and for being stubborn and coming out here whilst still reeling from a week long cold. I actually finished the 100oz in my CamelBak. I stopped 3-4 times to rest. It was much more difficult then expected. I'm no stranger to hikes, I love the trails in Austin. But this return hike upwards just passed me around the cell block.
Will definitely visit again and be better prepared.
Cool site!!
No Crowds On a Cold Winter Weekday
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swedegirl5 - 2/2/2010
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Distance: 3.40 Miles
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I can see why this is a popular hike, once you scramble down the hill the walk is picturesque and easy. If I had more time, I would have kept on walking. Since it has been raining in Austin, Barton Creek was running full and fast. For 45 minutes I had the walk to myself, and only saw two other couples the rest of the time. I'm glad I read this site before I headed back up to the top of the trail--it was more difficult than I expected! This walk will stay on my list of places to take people visiting Austin for the first time.
Great hike
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texaskdog - 1/24/2010
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Distance: 5.00 Miles
Duration: 1 hour, 45 minutes
We parked on Mopac, didnt find the Scottish Woods trail but went to the end with a treehouse and ended at a bldg. Was a bit extreme near the end but that was the funnest part of all.
Very enjoyable and quiet
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strontium87 - 12/12/2009
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Distance: 3.35 Miles
Duration: 2 hours
The water was up and the falls looked great. That last climb up to the Scottish Woods entrance is pretty severe though.
nice hike
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sandew - 4/26/2009
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Distance: 8.00 Miles
Duration: 5 hours
The notes about lots of bikes weren't kidding. We went on a cloudy, humid Sunday morning and there were lots of bikers. Most were curtious, only saw a couple going really fast. What was interesting about the bikers, we pulled off the trail for 5 unicyclers! That was a sight. We took the trail from the "hill of life" which was difficult on the return of walking over 4 hours. We found the ther trailheads and parking areas off Mopac and 360, which we'll do next time to finish off the trail (the first 3 miles). This upper part is the last part of the trail, as we found a few of the mile markers. We found a lot of dry creekbed mostly this part of the trail (April 27,2009). So, if you want to get wet, do it soon after ending the "hill of life".
Good trails, but way too many people.
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irwinr - 4/19/2009
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Distance: 6.00 Miles
Duration: 4 hours
We loved the trails, but there were a lot of people. Also, the guys on bikes really need to learn that they yield to pedestrians, not vice versa. There were tons of guys on bikes riding them way too fast on trails that are very narrow and windy, we were almost ran over several times.
Have to do this one again.
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cadenaang - 3/27/2009
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Distance: 2.00 Miles
Duration: N/A
Trail of Life
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Melissa-Austin - 3/23/2009
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Distance: 5.00 Miles
Duration: 2 hours
Wow, what a hike! The beginning of the hike was an amazing decline down to the creek. At the "T" we went to the right, which is the more rugged of the two sides. We walked along the beautiful creek & saw and heard many waterfalls. It was beautiful. We eventually crossed the creek and proceeded up river. It eventually became to inclined and was a bit too dangerous to continue, so we went back down stream where the hike was flatter. We ran into a few bikers and a couple people with dogs, but overall, there were not many people. It was also a Monday morning, so it's probably much busier on the weekend. Going back up the steep incline in the end was very tough after a long hike.
Might be better on a weekday
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Riff Raff - 10/5/2008
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Distance: 6.30 Miles
Duration: 4 hours, 30 minutes
This is really a fantastic area. You hardly think about the fact that you're inside Austin until you get to the MoPac bridge. Barton Creek itself was bone dry for all points I saw South of Sculpture Falls. In fact I walked on the creek bed for about half a mile just for fun.
Only real negative is all the people - particularly the mountain bikers. Several of them seemed fairly intent on running me down rather than bothering to actually slow down. I also ran into no less than three separate people that were obviously lost and unprepared for the trail. One of them was well into dehydration already, and had to beg some extra water from me. All of them were shocked that I actually brought a trail map with me. I might like to try this again on a weekday, and see how much activity there is then.
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mr0973 - 10/3/2008
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Distance: 7.00 Miles
Duration: 4 minutes
nice length but lots of bikes
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Donell - 9/21/2008
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Solitude:
Distance: 6.00 Miles
Duration: N/A
I hiked this morning from the trail head back toward Zilker crossing under Mopac for a bit before turning around. The hike is easy, but I agree with former comments that the uphill at the end of your hike is what makes this a little more difficult. Otherwise I would have only given it a 1 or 2. Pleasant hike that you don't have to weave around to try to get some distance but there was a number of bikes and a pretty busy trail. I would say that we passed/were passed by at least 50 people on the trail for just shy of 2 hrs.
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tyan - 6/7/2008
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Distance: 6.00 Miles
Duration: 3 minutes
Enjoy in spring!
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Caledonia - 5/25/2008
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Distance: 6.00 Miles
Duration: 2 hours
Cross the creek to the south side and explore miles of bike trails. The horse flies will take the fun out of it soon.
Great Hike!!
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ANDYROOSKY - 11/4/2007
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Distance: 3.00 Miles
Duration: 2 hours, 30 minutes
This is a great hike...there is so much you can do. Go for the distance and hit Zilker and back or go to nice relaxing views of waterfalls and a quick dip. You can go up the river and see a lot more....or explore a little and get off the main trails....There was more bikers but they were nice and tried to let you know that they were coming so I could get out of the way.....Next time I'll try a longer hike earlier in the morning....
Free and decent length
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caspalding66 - 6/7/2007
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Distance: 6.70 Miles
Duration: 3 minutes
Good decent hike, average length and trees, too many people
The best hike yet!
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christiniprosperity - 4/8/2007
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Distance: 3.00 Miles
Duration: 1 minute
This hike, although it starts "all downhill", just kept getting better and better. The three small but beautiful water falls were amazing to see. The sound of the rushing water kept beckoning me on further and further. Very cool and almost hypnotic. I actually loved the ending where I had to climb and climb back up the "trail of life" as its called to get back to my car. Worth it. Next time I'll bring my water bottle. Great workout!!!