Circle C Ranch Metropolitan Park on Slaughter Creek

Getting there: Slaughter Creek Park is located in south Austin in Circle C. On MoPac head south and take the Slaughter Lane exit and head west. Look for a parking area on the left after passing Escarpment Blvd. Slaughter Creek flows parallel to Slaughter Lane on the left and the parking area is on the opposite side of the creek from the main road.

The Hike: We started off our hike at the waypoint marked "Trailhead" that is north of the creek. If you are walking from the parking area near the more southern trailhead to get to this point be careful of any traffic coming down the road. A jeep trail starts here and heads east, following just north of Slaughter Creek. Much of the trail is a straight shot east towards South MoPac, where it terminates in a small loop and doubles back to the trailhead. The trail surface here is crushed granite and its width calls to mind an old jeep trail.

On the way back towards the northern trailhead a side trail splits off to the left and crosses the creek at the waypoint "Creek Cross". A concrete walkway extends over the creek making passage easy. The trail continues west and loops towards the southern trailhead in the main parking area.

Through much of this portion of the hike you will be within earshot, if not eyesight, of the soccer fields that the trail circles. On one visit to the park there was a soccer tournament in progress with some teams coming from as far away as Mexico. Chances are Sunday mornings are not normally this busy, or loud.

As the trail nears the southern trailhead it will pass next to the waypoint marked "Karst". Here you'll find a mysterious fenced-off area near a soccer field and a playscape. Closer inspection reveals that the feature being fenced off is a hole in the ground, known as a karst, that typically feeds right into an aquifer underground. In such a park the karst is fenced off not only to prevent people from crawling in, but also to prevent anyone from dumping trash into it. Since it is not being filtered by a large quantity of rock and soil but feeds directly into the aquafer, it is much more sensitive to human abuse.

The northern trailhead's trails shot off to the east and west, so we returned to that point and then took the western trail. The trail turns to the left and crosses the creek again at the waypoint "Creek Crossing". Unlike the eastern creek crossing, this one does not contain a concrete path spanning the water way. Instead, you'll have to hop from rock to rock across the stream if the water is flowing.

Shortly after crossing the creek the trail hugs along the sideline of a soccer field but then continues straight back along a fence and power line maintenance trail. As you can see from the topo map the trail along here is straight as an arrow. That trail eventually peters out near some homes on the southern boundary of the park. Doubling back, there are some side trails that lead to the east towards the main loop we already hiked or the main parking area trailhead.

A noisy soccer tournament that we encountered on one trip is not the norm as far as activity goes for the park. On nice days there's a pretty good contingent of walkers, runners and bicyclists on the trail, so solitude is not in great supply. However the more distant one gets from the trailheads the fewer people one encounters.

Note: The name of this hike used to be just "Slaughter Creek". However, the City of Austin refers to it by its long name that you now see above. Plus, the city has recently acquired another piece of property downstream on Slaughter Creek and they have been referring to it as the "Slaughter Creek Greenbelt", so we'll use the long name for this hike to avoid confusion.