Runners enjoy the 2-mile trail at Jester King Brewery. Photo courtesy Jester King Brewery

Do you like to run? Do you like beer?

Do I have your attention?

Jester King Brewery, located at 13187 Fitzhugh Road on the western outskirts of Austin, announced this week that it’s forming a running group, and it’s as much about logging a workout in a beautiful setting as it is sipping a double dry-hopped hazy triple IPA or a Belgian-style Grissette beneath sprawling oak trees.

The group will meet at 6 p.m. Thursdays, starting July 15, to run a 2-mile trail that weaves past frolicking goats and through the rolling Hill Country landscape. Afterward, each runner will get one free – yes, free! – Jester King beverage at the Pasture Bar.

Runners will meet rain or shine. No strollers are allowed (the terrain is rough), but leashed dogs are welcome.

Participants can fill out a waiver ahead of time by joining a Facebook group. Waivers will also be available onsite. T-shirts will be sold for $25.

Zach Person performs at a pop-up concert on the Butler Trail around Lady Bird Lake in October 2020. Pam LeBlanc photo

Last October, I caught a pop-up concert by Zach Person on the Butler Trail around Lady Bird Lake.

Taking a break during a bike ride to listen to live music felt quintessentially Austin.

This weekend, The Trail Foundation hosts another morning of free music on the trail. Performances run from 8 a.m. until noon Saturday at Lakeshore Park, the grassy space near the intersection of South Lakeshore Boulevard and Pleasant Valley at the southeast corner of the lake in downtown Austin. Besides providing free music, The Trail Foundation will be giving away T-shirts.

Here’s the lineup:

8 a.m. Frederico Do Mar

9 a.m. Sarah Hall

10 a.m. Aubrey Hays

11 a.m. Scott Strickland

More fun is planned the following weekend.

Cynthia Bernard, creator of ATX Yoga Girl, a mobile yoga studio, will lead an outdoor Yoga on the Trail class from 8:30-9:30 a.m. Saturday, July 17, at Butler Shores, between Barton Creek and South Lamar Boulevard.

The class, suitable for all skill levels, includes a swag pack with a t-shirt and koozies. Cost is $20; register here.

The Trail Foundation is a non-profit organization that works to maintain and enhance the 10-mile trail around Lady Bird Lake.

The water was gushing over the spillway in early July. Chris LeBlanc photo

Water was gushing over the spillway this morning at Blanco State Park, which ranks highly on my list of best swimming holes in Texas.

Today’s dip at the park reminded me why I love to come here: Shaded picnic tables, a mile of riverfront, cool green water that’s deep enough for actual swimming, and a wide expanse of slow-moving river. It’s great for kayaking and standup paddle boarding, too.

The 104-acre park opened in 1934, and features a pavilion built by the Civilian Conservation Corps. It’s popular with folks who like to fish, and Texas Parks and Wildlife stocks it each winter with trout. You don’t even need a license to fish from shore in the park, and the park has a selection of rods and reels you can borrow.

Blanco State Park features a mile-long stretch of river front. Pam LeBlanc photo

But it’s the swimming that lures me in. My advice? Don’t follow the road across the river to the main camping, picnicking, and swimming area. That’s great for families and the little dammed in pool appeals to kids, but I want to get in a workout. If that’s what you like too, take the left turn before you cross the river and follow the road downstream. You can park, then walk down to the riverfront and take a great flying leap into the water.

Let the dragonflies land on your nose and swim laps up and down the river between the highway bridge and the spillway dam. Then go sit at the bottom of the spillway and let the water splash over you. (Just be aware the spot is also popular with tiny black squirmy worm-like things the size of a grain of rice. I’m told their black fly larvae. Don’t worry – they won’t bother you.)

Admission is $5 daily; free ages 12 and under. I’ve got a Texas State Parks pass, so I don’t have to pay the entry fee. The park, 101 Park Road 23 in Blanco, sometimes fills up on nice weekends. To make sure you get in, book a reservation online ahead of time at https://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/blanco.

Chris LeBlanc gets gelato at OroBianco Italian Creamery in Blanco. Pam LeBlanc photo

Pro tip? When you’re done swimming, head to Oro Bianco Italian Creamery, 503 Main Street, for a cup of gelato made in small batches using milk from a Texas herd of grass-fed water buffalo (which has more butterfat than cows’ milk) and eggs laid by ducks at a Fredericksburg farm. It’s open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday through Sunday. (I like the peach.) For more information go to https://www.orobiancomilk.com.

OroBianco Italian Creamery makes gelato using milk from water buffalo. Pam LeBlanc photo

Pam LeBlanc jumps off a swim platform at Bamberger Ranch Preserve, a private ranch near Johnson City. Chris LeBlanc photo

I swim laps in a neighborhood pool four or five times a week, crunching out about 2 miles each time.

I swim with a team, so a coach stands on the edge of the pool and barks orders. That keeps me motivated.

I do it because I love the way water feels on my skin, and I love pushing myself. Bonus? It keeps me fit. I’m 57 years old, and I’ve been doing it regularly for the past 30 or so years.

Who knows what lurks beneath the surface? Photo by Chris LeBlanc

But you know what’s better than swimming in a cement pond? Swimming in a lake, pond or river. Here are my ten top reasons why:

1. Swimming pools are chlorinated. Remember when you were a kid, and you swam without goggles for so long that your eyes turned red and burned? That doesn’t happen in the wild.
2. Some people freak out that they might touch a fish. I love spying on marine life (including sharks). That’s why scuba diving is one of my favorite hobbies.
3. Skinny dipping is generally frowned upon in public pools. But jump in a lake and either nobody knows your naked, or nobody cares. Just find your own private corner to take your dip.

Pam LeBlanc sits beneath the spillway at Blanco State Park. Chris LeBlanc photo

4. No lane lines mean swimming in a pond doesn’t feel like a workout. It’s just for fun.

5. Fewer people. Last summer, my swim team was shut down for a few months due to the pandemic. A friend had access to a cove on Lake Austin, and we met there once a week to swim. Nobody else was out there at 7 a.m.

6. I’d rather look up from a swim to see a bunch of trees than a parking lot.

A leaning tree in the San Marcos River makes a good launch pad. Jimmy Harvey photo

7. Fewer flip turns. Generally speaking, you’ve got more room to swim in a river, lake or pond than a pool. That means you can swim a long way before you must turn around.

8. Some ponds and lakes come with swim platforms! That’s the ultimate.

9. Often, you can’t see the bottom of a lake. I find that appealing. Who knows what’s down there?

10. It’s an adventure, and I’m all about adventure.

The highest via ferrata in North America opens this summer in Arapahoe Basin, Colorado. Photo courtesy Arapahoe Basin

Want to crank the adventure-o-meter to eleven?

Arapahoe Basin in Summit County, Colorado, just opened a new via ferrata – a fixed climbing route with iron rungs and cables – on its towering East Wall, and it’s the highest one in North America, with views of the Continental Divide.

Via Ferratas (Italian for ”iron paths”) were first used by soldiers during World War I to cross the Alps. Today they’re recreational routes that allow steel-nerved adventurers to creep along cliff walls while wearing a harness clipped to a fixed cable. They’re particularly popular in Europe; Italy has more than 400 of them. Now they’re popping up around the United States. Jackson Hole, Wyoming; Royal Gorge Bridge, Colorado; Tahoe, California; Taos, New Mexico; and Zion, Utah, all have via ferratas.

Two summers ago, my knees clacked like castanets as I inched along the via ferrata high above the mountain town of Telluride, Colorado. I could barely look down as I clung to a sheer, 330-foot wall. I hired a guide for that adventure, but in Telluride, anyone with the proper gear can access the route. There are no fences or gates limiting access. (But hire a guide, please. It’s not for the faint of heart or beginners.)

Unlike the route above Telluride, the A-Basin route does not have open access. To climb it, you must book a tour with a local guide and use their equipment. Both half-day and full-day tours are available, and include a chairlift ride and climbing equipment, plus a bit of a history lesson. Cost is $175 for four hours or $225 for six hours.

For a glimpse of Arapahoe Basin’s new route, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S93uPa-tq9Q.

The route is open through Sept. 6. For more information go to https://www.arapahoebasin.com/summer-lp/.

West Hansen, front, Jimmy Harvey, middle, and Jeff Wueste, back, paddle Lady Bird Lake in April. Pam LeBlanc photo

Austin paddler West Hansen is holding out hope he can still lead a team of paddlers through the Northwest Passage this summer, becoming the first to kayak 1,900 miles through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.

That prospect, however, is looking increasingly unlikely. Despite a drop in Covid-19 cases in Canada and an uptick in the vaccinations, Canadian officials recently extended the closure of their border to non-essential travel through at least July 21.

Hansen says he needs to launch his Arctic Cowboys expedition by Aug. 1 to make it through the passage before cold weather hits.

According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, about 24 percent of the total population of Canada has been fully vaccinated as of June 25. (In Nunavut, where the expedition is headed, about 40 percent of the eligible population is fully vaccinated.)

Two-thirds of Canada’s residents have received at least one dose. Officials say they want 75 percent of the eligible population vaccinated before they open the border.

“The expedition is on hold until U.S. citizens are allowed into Canada. If Canada changes its policy within the expedition timeframe, then the expedition will move forward,” Hansen said this week.

West Hansen, a social worker from Austin, plans to lead a kayaking expedition through the Northwest Passage. Pam LeBlanc photo

Hansen became the first person to paddle 4,200 miles from a newly discovered source of the Amazon River to the sea in 2012, then paddled the entire Volga River in Russia two years later. He endured everything from river bandits, whitewater rapids and an injured shoulder during those adventures, but will face a different set of challenges – from shifting sea ice to frigid water and polar bears – in the planned Arctic expedition. 

“All the gear is ready,” he says. “Right now, everything is hinging on Canada’s policies.”

In the meantime, Hansen and the two other members of the Arctic Cowboys, Jimmy Harvey and Jeff Wueste, finished the grueling Texas Water Safari, a 260-mile paddling race from San Marcos to the Texas coast. They placed eighth overall and sixth in the unlimited category, finishing in 45 hours and 16 minutes. That marked the 21^st finish for Hansen.

The Arctic Cowboys, when here at Cottonseed Rapid, placed eighth overall in the 2021 Texas Water Safari earlier this month. Pam LeBlanc photo