Trying to finish up work and beat the sun is not easy with sunset now at 5:30pm. Doesn’t leave a lot of time for a hike. We were frazzled from stop-and-sigh driving on Congress Ave, but we made it to the trailhead and the prettiest little descent into a greenbelt in all of Austin. I pranced down the rocky path like I had hooves for feet.
My wife had one of those throbbing allergy earaches and waddled down the trail like a hospital patient pushing her IV pole down the hallway. She would not be deterred. We hiked a 2 mile out and back, and had to yield to the same lost mountain biker three times as he tried to find his way, his first time on that section. Didn’t he know I was trying to get in the zone?
After we climbed one of my favorite hillsides, we made our way back, the temperatures dropping until my earlobes stung and we could see our breaths. We turned on our headlamps, and I was startled by a tiny owl with plumage like ash flying away from me into the woods.
Violet Crown Trail
2 miles
