Roy Guerrero Park and Montopolis
Details
The site of a former dairy farm along the Colorado River had been coveted by advocates for both a minor league baseball team and a Major League Soccer team. But local activists fought to keep the park, which the city fixed up and named after East Side community leader and parks and rec hero Roy Guerrero a quarter century ago. Amongst Guerrero’s accomplishments, he helped integrate Austin Little League games in the 1940s.
The park and the Montopolis neighborhood to its east sometimes get a bad rap as lower income areas do. But aside from visible signs of new real estate investment, digging a bit below the surface reveals that highly engaged community stewards have made this place home all along. And spectacular birds-- herons, egrets, woodpeckers-- love the place.
Our 6 mile walk (official map here) traverses a triple-loop through the park and around Country Club Creek. On the way, we’ll pass through the not-so-secret Secret Beach. Then at the tail end of our journey, we’ll walk past some modest homes to reach Montopolis Drive- a mecca for a broad range of South American food (Paraguayan, Salvadoran, Mexican, Cuban). Montopolis was built for cars not for walkers, so we’ll keep to a very short stretch which includes both a Honduran food truck (lunch anyone?) and San Jose Cementerio, an historic cemetery kept up by the local community.
TRANSIT LOGISTICS:
- Official walk map
- We’ll meet at the parking lot by Field 4 at 30°14'40.0"N 97°42'02.4"W
Bring plenty of water
Wear long pants, since we're walking through some high grass
If you're into birds, bring binoculars