TexasKelly RamseyJanuary 03, 2018Austin, Texas, Trails, Hikes, River Place Nature Trail, River Place, Hikes Near Austin, Day Hikes, Hard hikes, hard hikes in Texas

The Best (Hardest) Hike in Central Texas

TexasKelly RamseyJanuary 03, 2018Austin, Texas, Trails, Hikes, River Place Nature Trail, River Place, Hikes Near Austin, Day Hikes, Hard hikes, hard hikes in Texas

This is hands-down my favorite hike in the Austin area. A breezy 30-minute drive out 2222, River Place Nature Trail’s beauty comes as a surprise considering its location: smack dab in the center of a sprawling development of 10,000-square-foot McMansions.

If you’re like me, driving past these houses and imagining what this swath of Hill Country looked like before it was carved up into plots will make your heart ache. Yet the trail, which follows a narrow greenbelt along Panther Hollow Creek (a tributary that babbles pleasantly downhill, ultimately emptying into the Colorado River), is remarkably...well, wild and pure. With the exception of the stretch of trail where you can spot the golf course just beyond a thin scrim of woods, that is.

It’s pretty, okay? I swear it’s pretty.

River Place is a three-mile route with a trailhead at each end and a spur (the Little Fern trail, 1 mi. out and back) in the middle. You can’t get lost, so I won’t bother describing all the navigational features in detail. The trail is exceedingly well-marked and maintained; somebody went so far, recently, as to add a chain you can hold for balance at several of the stream crossings. A little sissy, if you ask me, though very nice of them.

Yet this trail is not for sissies. As it meanders alongside the creek it skirts uphill and downhill, then up and down again…and again, and again, until you feel you’re in a Groundhog Day of repeating trail segments. You’re not; it’s just a hilly-ass trail. Luckily, somebody installed about a billion log steps—okay, 2,736 built-in steps, to be precise.

You have options (if you come with another person and two vehicles): you could park a car at each end and hike the trail one-way. That’s still a pretty challenging three miles, between the steps and the 1,700 feet in elevation change. But if you’re gung ho, or alone—and I’m often both—you can hike the whole enchilada, up and back. I like to start at the lower end of the trail (near the pond), the Panther Trail Head, and hike upcanyon toward the aptly-named Canyon Trail Head; there are some coolish views only partially marred by identical houses up there near the top. There are also some unmarked cowpath-style side trails, if you dare. But either end you choose, it’s the same basic diff: out and back.

You’re probably way ahead of me on the math here, but if you do the whole thing, that’s 6 miles (7 with Little Fern), 5,472 stairs, and 3,400 feet in elevation change.

For a region of Texas that lies hundreds of miles from even the piddliest mountain, that ain’t bad! In fact, hiking River Place Nature Trail will give you about the same elevation change as taking the Bright Angel Trail from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon all the way down to the Colorado River. And that’s why you’ll see people training on this trail: backpackers with their bags loaded up with gear, ultra-runners sprinting up the stairs in sleek little shorts. One time I met a couple in their 60’s training to through-hike the Appalachian Trail. Awesome!

I’ve used River Place as a training ground for backcountry trips to the Grand Canyon, Zion, and Colorado’s Weminuche Wilderness, among others. It’s my go-to hike for a tough, glute-burning workout that will blast my thighs into condition for the real peaks and canyons of America’s pointier states. Yes, it’s not a mountain. But your legs won’t know the difference.

If you’re doing all of River Place, you should allow some time and come prepared. The fastest I’ve done this hike is a little over two hours round-trip, and I was hauling. Plan for three to four hours. Bring at least two liters of water per person, unless you were born without sweat glands. Bring snacks! Like two Clif-bar level snacks. And please, for the love of god, don’t do this hike in the middle of the day between May and September. Heat stroke is real.

By no means should you feel intimidated, if you’re a casual Sunday hiker who’s just down for a mile or two post-brunch. One of my favorite things about this trail is that it feels diverse and inclusive. In the first mile or so coming up from the pond, you’ll meet families and couples with dogs (lots of off-leash dogs, though they’re generally well-behaved). One time I saw a gaggle of teenaged girls doing an Instagram photo shoot in a beautiful live oak by the creek. There are tweens smelling like they poured the entire scent ouvre of Bath & Body Works on their shirts hiking this trail. There are guys bumping Latin music from small boom boxes. There are old ladies who can out-hike you and, following his pregnant mother, there’s a toddler swishing a stick and saying, “I’m a pirate!”

It’s the best.

Another example of the excessively friendly signage -- and a good place to relax.

And if it’s a chill, pretty walk you’re after, River Place will provide. The first mile is flatter and meanders through a lush green riparian zone, where maidenhead ferns sprout from crevices in the limestone cliffs. There are small waterfalls and tempting pools in the creek; the Little Fern trail has some of my favorite contemplative and/or swimming lagoons. Further along, the landscape turns itself over to our ubiquitous Ashe Juniper, a.k.a. Cedar, and you’ll recognize the scrubby trees and prickly pear cacti and dusty limestone paths of a classic Texas Hill Country hike.

This is true of almost any trail, but at River Place the difference is more dramatic: if you love people with your hike experience, come on the weekend. If you crave solitude, hit this one up on a weekday—especially in the morning, before those sweet hapless dogs have muddied the clear, cool waters of the creek.

However and whenever you make the trip, you won’t regret it.