Contact Pam
Select Page
Select Page
Vote for the Butler Trail in this poll

Vote for the Butler Trail in this poll

by | Feb 4, 2021 | Blog

The boardwalk is part of the 10-mile loop of the Ann and Roy Butler Trail in downtown Austin. Pam LeBlanc photo

If you’re a regular on the Ann and Roy Butler Hike and Bike Trail that loops around Lady Bird Lake in downtown Austin, you know it’s much more than a path – it’s like the city’s collective family room.

Walk or run the 10-mile trail and you’ll get views of rowers on the Colorado River, towering cypress trees that shade its northern side, Barton Creek, and the sleek metal and glass outline of the city’s core. You’ll also probably run into a friend or two.

Now the trail has been nominated as one of the country’s best recreational trails in the USA Today 10 Best Reader’s Choice Travel Awards.

Trees arch over a section of the Butler Trail near Zilker Park. Pam LeBlanc photo

When I checked today, the trail was holding third place of the 20 nominated trails. Voting is open through Feb. 15, and you can vote once per day.

At the moment, the 130-mile Chuck Huckelberry Loop in Tucson, which is open to pedestrians, equestrians, cyclists and skaters, was at the top of the list. The 19-mile Swamp Rabbit Trail that follows an old railroad bed along the Reedy River in Greenville, South Carolina, was in second.

Also on the list of nominees? Buffalo Bayou in Houston, the Atlanta Beltline, the High Line in New York City, the Katy Trail in Missouri, the Rio Grande Trail in Colorado and the Maricopa Trail in Phoenix.

Want to see our local trail win? Go here to vote.

About Pam

I’m Pam LeBlanc. Follow my blog to keep up with the best in outdoor travel and adventure. Thanks for visiting my site.

Where is Pam?

Click to open a larger map

Follow Pam

The Trail Foundation’s gala goes socially distant this year

The Trail Foundation’s gala goes socially distant this year

by | Aug 22, 2020 | Blog

The Trail Foundation’s biggest fund-raiser of the year is adopting an in-person, socially-distant look this year.
The Twilight on the Trail gala will take place in three outdoor sessions Nov. 1, at the Four Seasons Hotel. Tables of various sizes will be arranged on the lawn, with plenty of space between them.
Guests can stroll the Butler Hike-and-Bike Trail before or after their session to enjoy pop-up performances from the foundation’s Austin Black Artist Music Series. Food and beverages will be served table side to avoid crowds at bars or food stations, and guests will be required to wear masks when not seated.
Sessions are scheduled for 3-4 p.m., 4:30-5:30 p.m., and 6-7 p.m. outside the Four Seasons Hotel Austin, 98 San Jacinto Boulevard
The event helps raise funds to protect and enhance the trail.
Tables for two, four or six people are available, starting at $500 for two, and can be purchased here. Those who don’t want to attend in person can have food and drink delivered on the same evening. Sponsorships are also available.

The Trail Foundation’s Twilight on the Trail fund-raiser (show here pre-pandemic) will take place in three outdoor sessions this year. Photo courtesy The Trail Foundation

About Pam

I’m Pam LeBlanc. Follow my blog to keep up with the best in outdoor travel and adventure. Thanks for visiting my site.

Where is Pam?

Click to open a larger map

Follow Pam

Take this survey to help revamp an exercise station on the Butler Trail

Take this survey to help revamp an exercise station on the Butler Trail

by | Aug 6, 2020 | Blog

The existing fitness station on West Riverside Drive will be revamped. Photo courtesy The Trail Foundation


A row of pullup bars, some benches, a drinking fountain and an outdoor shower occupy a patch of ground adjacent to the Butler Trail near Zach Theatre. A puddle often forms around the shower, and the space – well, it just doesn’t look all that inviting.
But The Trail Foundation and the Austin Parks and Recreation Department plan to revamp the fitness area, located on West Riverside Drive, and they’re asking for the public’s help in planning it.
The new exercise station will feature exercise equipment, visual guides to show how to use it, new native plants and shade trees, a limestone seating wall, a new drinking fountain and bike racks, and a concrete ribbon curb to separate the area from the trail.
Two virtual community engagement opportunities are planned. An online survey to pick between two options for exercise equipment is open until Sept. 1.

The first option features a “bamboo jungle” and other equipment. Illustration courtesy The Trail Foundation


The second option features multi-use stations. Illustration courtesy The Trail Foundation


One option features pushup bars, pullup bars, a bamboo jungle (so cool!), a workout bench and parallel bars. The second features steps, and arm bike, a link-suspension trainer/core twist and magnetic bell, and parallel bars. To see schematic drawings of both options, and to take the survey, go to https://thetrailfoundation.org/portfolio/butler-shores-exercise-equipment-community-engagement/.
An online video meeting will be held later this fall to summarize community input and present the chosen equipment design.
The $500,000 project is scheduled for completion in 2022. To make a donation to help fund it, go to www.thetrailfoundation.org.

About Pam

I’m Pam LeBlanc. Follow my blog to keep up with the best in outdoor travel and adventure. Thanks for visiting my site.

Where is Pam?

Click to open a larger map

Follow Pam

Maudie’s Moonlight Margarita Run goes virtual – and the trail will remain one-way at least through May

Maudie’s Moonlight Margarita Run goes virtual – and the trail will remain one-way at least through May

by | May 6, 2020 | Blog

That’s me, posing with an unidentified runner, at the 2018 Moonlight Margarita Run. This year’s race is going virtual. Photo from 2018 race by Chris LeBlanc


The Trail Foundation’s biggest fund-raiser of the year, the Maudie’s Moonlight Margarita Run, is going virtual.

That means you can run the 5K race on your own time, wherever you want. The party half of the event will take place in October, and everyone who registers and runs the virtual race now will get a couple of free drinks then.
“Apart but together we can still celebrate the Trail while keeping our city safe,” said Heidi Anderson, director of The Trail Foundation, a non-profit organization that works to maintain and improve the beloved 10-mile Butler Hike and Bike Trail around Lady Bird Lake. “The Trail Foundation is grateful to everyone who is registering and supporting our efforts to ensure the Trail is in the best condition possible, even during these unprecedented times.”
These unprecedented times, in case you haven’t heard, have meant a temporary conversion of the Butler Trail to a one-way route. People are discouraged from using the trail at all right now, because it’s difficult to maintain a 6-foot social distance on narrow stretches of the pathway, but asked to travel clockwise if they choose to do so.
“The trail, at the Austin Parks and Recreation Department’s direction, will remain one-way at least through the end of May, and then they will re-evaluate,” Anderson said. “Our counters actually show that the majority of folks are complying. Depending on the day, between 75 and 85 percent of folks are moving clockwise.”
In the meantime, the one-way signs that were put up a few weeks ago are still disappearing. Another round of signs to replace them will go up today and Thursday. (Seriously, folks. Leave the signs alone. It’s a waste for the foundation to use its donations to keep replacing signs torn down, thrown away or swiped as souvenirs.)
As for the race, once you register online at https://eventdog.com/a/eventpage.php?eID=31787&refData=website, the foundation will send you links to create a virtual bib and submit your results. Everyone who signs up gets a T-shirt, and the first 700 will get a $10 Maudie’s Tex-Mex gift card.
You can run or walk any route you choose – on road, trail, treadmill or track – as many times as you want between June 4 (that’s the day after Global Running Day) and July 4. Send in your best time to compete against other virtual participants.
I try to do the race every year. I love the combination of fun and food, and the festive, outdoor atmosphere. I hope to see you at the October party.

About Pam

I’m Pam LeBlanc. Follow my blog to keep up with the best in outdoor travel and adventure. Thanks for visiting my site.

Where is Pam?

Click to open a larger map

Follow Pam

The Trail Foundation’s fund-raiser, Twilight on the Trail, set for Nov. 3

The Trail Foundation’s fund-raiser, Twilight on the Trail, set for Nov. 3

by | Sep 13, 2019 | Blog

This year’s Twilight on the Trail fund-raiser and (semi) gala, is set for Nov. 3 at the Four Seasons. Photo courtesy The Trail Foundation.

I plod down its gravel expanse every weekend, and wheel a bike along its curves and bridges at least a couple of times a week.

Like many folks who live in Austin, I think of the Butler Hike and Bike Trail as an extension of my backyard. I stop on the Pfluger Pedestrian Bridge to admire a sunset, look down the tunnel of green when I’m running alongside Barton Creek and use it as a vantage point to take in incredible views of the ever-changing Austin skyline.

I’m not alone. The trail gets more than 2.6 million visits every year.

On Nov. 3, The Trail Foundation will celebrate its work in protecting, maintaining and enhancing that trail at the Twilight on the Trail celebration at the Four Seasons Hotel.

Not familiar with the foundation’s work? Credit them for creation of the boardwalk underneath Interstate 35, the observation deck below the Ann Richards-Congress Avenue Bridge and native plantings all along the 10-mile loop around Lady Bird Lake. Now in its 16thyear, the organization needs funds for its next round of projects, including improvements at Drake Bridge (First Street), a new trailhead at Rainey Street and a restroom at Festival Beach.

That’s what the Nov. 3 event is all about. Dress is trail style – dresses or suits on top and running shoes on the bottom. (I stepped out in a dress and sneakers last year.) The party begins on the lawn behind the hotel and moves into the ballroom for dinner, drinks and entertainment.

The event is scheduled for 5-8 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 3 at The Four Seasons Hotel Austin, 98 San Jacinto Boulevard. Tables and a limited number of individual tickets are on sale at https://thetrailfoundation.org/twilight-on-the-trail/ .

 

 

 

å

About Pam

I’m Pam LeBlanc. Follow my blog to keep up with the best in outdoor travel and adventure. Thanks for visiting my site.

Where is Pam?

Click to open a larger map

Follow Pam