About us
This walking group explores the dynamic past and present of Austin's urban environment. We discover the birds, balconies, and boneyards, forgotten civic skeletons and rewilded lots, and weird-Austin-era yard decorations that stitch together Austin's urban and natural tapestry. These events are intended to be adventures but not guided tours.
Photographers and gardeners, historians and placemakers, sociologists and armchair architecture critics alike should feel welcome, provided we have at least two things in common: a deep curiosity about the city of Austin and decent enough shoes to carry us where curiosity leads.
This monthly group won't be the fastest hiking group in the city, but we'll cover 5-7 miles at a contemplative pace. Afterward, some of us stick around to find a place to rehydrate, eat our way back to calorie-neutral, and talk about it all.
Upcoming events
3
Clarksville and Old West Austin
Veteran's Park, 2200 Veterans Drive, Austin, TX, USSoon after the abolition of slavery in 1865, freedman Charles Clark bought two acres near present-day 10th Street from a former Confederate general and Texas state senator/attorney general. This became the foundation of Clarksville—one of the first freedmen's communities west of the Mississippi and one of Austin's oldest neighborhoods. Sweet Home Missionary Baptist Church became the heart and soul of this close-knit community where residents raised livestock and fished the Colorado River, and built lives of self-determination.
Old West Austin's historic tapestry extended beyond Clarksville. Italian-American families settled to the east along Lynn Street in the 1930s. Closer to the Colorado River and rail tracks (now Union Pacific), the foundry that became Tips Engine Works opened in 1899, evolving from cotton gin repairs to structural steel fabrication.
This vibrant neighborhood faced devastating blows that forever changed its demographic makeup. Austin's 1928 segregation plan displaced Black residents to the East side. Then MoPac's construction in the 1970s razed a third of Clarksville, including the home of longtime resident Pauline Stewart Brown.
Our 5.5-mile walk (official map here) begins at Veterans Park, follows a 1970s greenbelt just west of MoPac, then loops through Clarksville's surviving streets. We'll come across remnants of the area’s rich history: the 1950s Bennett family windmill marking a homestead that predated MoPac, Sweet Home Missionary Baptist Church still active at 1725 W 11th, the Tips foundry site, and Maggie Mayes Street—renamed from Confederate Avenue in 2022 to honor the Black educator who founded Clarksville's first school.
Ours is a chatty and calorie-neutral group, so you can expect that some of us will seek out lunch at the end of the walk.
TRANSIT LOGISTICS:
- 10 AM start, on our Fall/Winter schedule
- Free public parking is reputedly abundant by MoPac on the south of the Colorado River.
- There's also parking on the north side of the river under the MoPac and closer to the start of our walk, but that's reportedly no longer free.
- Official walk map
Thank to walking group member Chris "McChris" for proposing this walk and identifying the historic sites along the way.
40 attendees
Circle C and The Hielscher (Southwest Austin)
Circle C Ranch Metropolitan Park, 6301 West Slaughter Lane, Austin, Te, USThis 7.5 mile walk traverses the Circle C Ranch Metropolitan Park and Hielscher Tract Greenbelt, as well as their namesake neighborhoods on the city’s far Southwest Side. The area, a 5,600-home planned development involuntarily annexed by the city in 1986, was subject of a decades-long litigation battle between developers and environmental groups concerned about protecting the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone- a key water source for Barton Springs.
After decades of litigation anchored to the city’s landmark Save Our Springs ordinance of 1992, the Southwest Travis County Water and Reclamation District and the Slaughter Creek Water Quality Protection Zone were both ruled unconstitutional, in true Texas style. I haven’t figured out for certain, but I believe the abundance of parks and greenbelts in the area may have been a sort of consolation from developers who otherwise got their way.
Our walk (official map here) begins at the middle of 5 parking lots along Donald E. Carpenter Way in the Circle C Ranch Metropolitan Park. We’ll head southwest along Hielscher Tract Greenbelt, and then loop through residential areas before picking up the Firehouse trail east of Escarpment Boulevard.
Ours is a chatty and calorie-neutral group, so some of us may seek out food at one of the restaurants by Slaughter and Escarpment, just ½ mile from the walk’s start.
TRANSIT LOGISTICS:
- 10 AM start, on our Fall/Winter schedule
- We’ll meet at the middle of 5 parking lots along Donald E. Carpenter Way in the Circle C Ranch Metropolitan Park
- Official walk map
12 attendees
Post-Industrial Govalle: Brownfield to Greenbelt (8 AM start)
Location not specified yet6 mile walk through East Boggy Creek, Bolm District Park, and Colorado River Park Wildlife Sanctuary... with views of industrial remnants. Preliminary route map at https://www.alltrails.com/explore/custom-routes/industrial-east-dd801af, but I'll need to re-route the abandoned section of the Southern Walnut Creek trail. Note that we are shifting to our spring/summer 8 AM start time to beat the heat. More details TBD.
5 attendees
Past events
17
