Welcome to GrowingUpAustin’s Austin Kids Hike! home page. Click on a link below to see a detailed map with parent-friendly information about kid-friendly hikes.
My Favorite Creeks
Bull Creek (purple)
Shoal Creek (blue)
Barton Creek (green)
hello
My Favorite Trail Heads
Bull Creek #9
Shoal Creek #5
Barton Creek #2
One of my favorite things about Austin is that you can be right in the middle of town and you can park on the side of the road and walk into another world. Just a few steps onto a trail can take you out of city life, down below the traffic and buildings, among the trees and the birds, a million miles away. When I go on a hike with my girls, they look in awe at the simplest things, they play games and make art with sticks and dirt and rocks and we all get to be disconnected from the grid for at least part of the day.
Of coarse, hiking means something different when you have little kids. For one thing, we don’t really HIKE. The word HIKE implies that you have traveled a distance and sometimes we just make it down to the creek and sometimes we spend 30 minutes on the same 100 feet of trail. And, when your kids are really little, and still in a stroller and not technically walking, it still counts as a HIKE. This is because Mom and baby are outdoors, which can be very rejuvenating, and these might be the most important hikes of all.
I wish I had more information when I started hiking, like the exact address the trail heads and which trails are flat enough for a stroller. So I created maps for my three favorite creeks, with a Google Map push pin for each trail head and this information:
- A pretty picture
- A Google-map-friendly street address
- The stroller situation – ‘Stroller friendly’ means that, if you have a good stroller, preferably a jogging stroller, that can handle a few bumps in the road, then a good part of this trail will work for you. This type of trail is also better for young toddlers.
- The park situation – ‘With Park’ means the trail head is at a park, so there is generally better parking, restrooms and more activities for the kids.
- Links to posts – If I have a post about a hike from this trail head, there will be a link.
If you are thinking, ‘Little Kids Hike! Are you Crazy?, then follow that link, it has a few tips to make it easier.
If you get into hiking, the City of Austin Greenbelt page has maps for about thirty Austin greenbelts. AustinExplorer.com has maps for about a thirty million places to hike. This site is great for longer hikes, with descriptions, pictures and info about hiking the trails from end-to-end. REI has local trail information and tips for hiking with kids here.
Thanks for checking out Austin Kids Hike! I hope you have many great hikes with your kids!
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Brilliant!!! And just in time for the beautiful spring weather!
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Thank you for this! It’s one less task to organize before a kid adventure! You rock, Carol
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I can’t wait to try these out. LOCAL Hikes!!! yeah!
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Thanks for the great info! Have you checked out mayfield park? It’s one of our favorites. Great trails and lots of peacocks roaming the grounds!
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Carol Reply:
April 24th, 2011 at 8:07 pm
Thanks for the comments!
I haven’t been to Mayfield Park in a long time. Thanks for reminding me of it!
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Carol! Thanks! This is great. Love it.
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I am surprised to see how shady these look. That’s a good sign.
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How lovely, thank you!
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What a great resource! Thanks for putting this together for us.
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This is exactly why I miss Austin so much. We do not have as many options here in houston. This is great! We look foward to visiting some of these places in the near future.
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Thanks! This is great!
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This is sounds perfect for us! I’ve been wanting to try out some of the trails ever since we moved to the area, but for one reason or another we’ve never made it out. Now that we’ve got some reliable recommendations I think we’ll try to make it out to Bull Creek sometime this week : )
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I had better hurry, exploration awaits!
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What an awesome idea and activity! What a blessed time to share with children.
One of my fondest memories as a child was going on a picnic with family friends near a creek with a tall, tall cliff on the other side – just running, jumping, playing out in nature.
Also, taking our children many, many years later out to the “property”,
spending time in the woods and down by the creek. The feeling of life outdoors, nature – awe inspiring!
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Pretty cool. Great info!
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I need to do these with my boys. Such a great reference and I am so glad to know that you have already done these with your little ones. Makes it seem more manageable.
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