Emma Long and a Hidden Gem at Bull Creek

Last week we all went to Emma Long to swim and picnic. The weather has been cooler than usual for this time of year and it was a bit cloudy, so the water was a little too cold for my liking, but I still enjoyed the "beach". The water was clear and the bottom was sandy.  I'd like to go back on a warmer day....

After we left Emma Long, Skye wanted to go check out Mt. Bonnell. It's been about ten years since she's been there. She enjoyed looking out at the top at downtown....

Yesterday, Toby and I headed to Bull Creek for a hike. He had noticed another trail head nearby our usual entrance to Bull Creek, so we decided to check it out....

I'm not sure how I ever missed, or if we've ever been on it...I don't recall ever having been, but it was a nice find. You could tell the trail was not much traveled because the paths were really small and lined with tall grass and brush, which made me a bit nervous that I may walk up on a snake. I'm not really fearful of snakes in general, but I certainly would like to see them before they see me....

There was a short off set trail that led down to the creek....

This is part of an old wildflower farm from back in the 1940's....

Soon we could hear a waterfall. We took the very grassy, overgrown path that led down to it. I was super nervous about traipsing through the overgrown brush, but it was well worth it. Here's what the brush looked like that we had to walk through at the edge of the creek....

It was so peaceful. We stayed awhile and enjoyed the serenity for a bit. With Austin being so overpopulated now, it's always nice to find these peaceful spots that we don't have to share with a zillion other people.

The trail was just one big loop, so we made our way back around the loop back out....

There were large pasture areas within the trail chock full of seeded wildflower, I'm definitely going to come back next wildflower season, I'm sure it's a beautiful sight...

We headed on to our usual trail to our little swimming spot on Bull Creek. It was not that hot of a day, but we had worked up enough of a sweat to take a dip. It was raining by then, but we didn't care we were getting wet anyway. It was so beautiful to watch the rain drops fall into the water while listening to the sound of the waterfall. It was truly a relaxing day, mostly because we had the whole place by ourselves....

I love this picture of this yellow flower I took. It looks like the sun rays are stealing the color from the flower....

It continued to rain on us all the back out of the trail, but it was pretty cool. Made me feel like a kid again.