Photo by James Rambin
In all the chaos of the pandemic, we neglected to notice that the Trail Foundation, Austin’s nonprofit stewards of the Hike-and-Bike Trail, reached a nice milestone — Brazos Bluff, one of the organization’s 15 trail improvement projects marking the 15th anniversary of its founding, celebrated its completion last month.
Photo by James Rambin
A rendering of the Brazos Bluff project — the real thing looks better, doesn’t it? Image: The Trail Foundation
The project creates a stopping point with seating and other landscaping features directly below the Four Seasons Hotel and Residences at San Jacinto Center, where trail users can relax in the shade, eat lunch, and otherwise “recreate.”
Photo by James Rambin
But the upgraded Brazos Bluff site also serves a more practical purpose — this area reportedly experienced “significant erosion” to both the trail and bank of Lady Bird Lake whenever it rained, and the improvements by local landscape architecture firm Pharis Design are intended to mitigate the effects of stormwater flowing across the site “in an aesthetically pleasing and ecologically sensitive manner that prevents further erosion of the Trail and the lake edge,” per the Foundation.
Photo by James Rambin
As you can see from the photos of the site, especially the one above, this erosion control along the hillside behind the Four Seasons is accomplished with native plants including what’s described as a “rain garden” and other drainage infrastructure.
The parkland adjacent to the Four Seasons was steeply sloped, causing significant erosion of the Trail and the riparian edge when it rained. Designed by Pharis Design, this project addresses the stormwater that flows across this site in an aesthetically pleasing and ecologically sensitive manner that prevents further erosion of the Trail and the lake edge. It includes a deck along the Trail for users to gather or rest as well as protects the existing shade trees’ sensitive roots.
— The Trail Foundation, Brazos Bluff Opening Announcement
Here’s a 3D view of what the area previously looked like — you can see some obvious evidence of erosion if you look around:
Some handy signs from the Trail Foundation are currently advertising the spot to trail users, and as the new plantings start to fill in the garden spaces it’s going to be an increasingly nice place for a picnic — and though this plan dates back to long before the pandemic, it couldn’t have arrived at a better time.
Photo by James Rambin
For a very quick walkthrough of the site, check out this video below from the Trail Foundation — and we mean quick. It’s literally 3 seconds long. We’re not sure why:
Consider it a teaser for actually visiting the site yourself — for what it’s worth, when I took these pictures everyone on the trail was keeping their distance. If you feel like you haven’t gone outside in a million years, this might be a good place to start.
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