2nd Austin Oyster Adventure Race: Great Fun

The Austin Parks Foundation was the beneficiary for a seond year of the Austin Oyster Adventure Race.  Team Sage/Team Player Productions of Denver, CO is running a series of six Oyster races in Denver, San Francisco, Nashville, Seattle, Austin and Portland, OR this year and the foundation helped lay out the course, recruit the 50 plus volunteers needed to run the race and help out with set-up, running the race and clean-up.

Nearly 40 teams of 3-6 people each started and finished at RunTex at S. Riverside and S. South.  Eight stages or Passports awaited them and the next passport was only revealed when they completed the previous passport.  Teams were told to bring bikes, running shoes, rollerblades or scooters and expect to get wet and that’s it.  The eight passports were:

1) Bike to Walsh Boat Landing on Lake Austin.  Teams had to throw a cowbell across 25 feet of water with two successful catches, otherwise, one member had to swim out 25 feet to a kayak to get the next passport, which was…

2) Bike to Lion’s Golf Course. One team member had to hit a ball at the driving range beween two banners about 30 feet out.  They had up to 20 chances.  They then returned to RunTex.

3) Teams ran from RunTex to Seaholm Power Plant where they had to locate the next passport which was…

4) AMLI on 1st.  They had to climb 19 stories of stairs, get their passport punched and head back down (that’s 325 stairs up, 325 stairs down.) They returned to RunTex after this.

5) Teams headed out on bikes to Bus Fruh Access Trail on Barton Creek Greenbelt.  They  left their bikes at the top and ran down to the Gus Fruh Wall, where one member had to climb up ropes and ring a cowbell.  Then back to their bikes and back to RunTex.

6) From RunTex, teams rolled (rollerblades or scooters) to Pease Park near MLK where two members had to play two of the disc golf course holes and roll back to RunTex.

7) Teams left on bikes from RunTex and rode to the Rowing Dock on the south side of Lake Lady Bird, just beyond Mopac.  Two members jumped into a kayak and paddled to Lou Neff Point in Zilker Park, while the other one ran over to Lou Neff.  When they met at Lou Neff, the runner jumped into the kayak and one of the kayakers jumped out and they all met back at the Rowing Dock.  They then rode back to RunTex.

8) Teams ran over to PureAustin Fitness to complete a short obstacle course, then over to Whole Foods where a team member did an oyster shot, a BBQ sauce shot and a gross “natural” smoothie shot.  With that, they headed back to RunTex for post race Beer, BBQ and Prizes.

Thanks to Chris L. for the great photos posted here and our on Flickr account as well our 50 plus volunteers who manned all of our passport checkpoints and start/finish line.  And thanks to Team Sage/Team Player Productions for working with us again this year.  Please join us next year sometime in October.  Further info on the Oyster Racing Series.

Dirty Hands Caravan helps out at Barton Creek Greenbelt

On Thursday, May 1, 150 volunteers traveling on three bio-fueled buses as part of the Dirty Hands Caravan came to Austin and Barton Creek Greenbelt. With the tremendous support of American Youthworks E-Corps, the Parks Dept, the Austin Parks Foundation, the Greenbelt Guardians and Keep Austin Beautiful we had volunteers removing non-native trees and plants from three sites on Barton Creek – Homedale access, Gus Fruh Access and Loop 360 access and two crews walking the trail and picking up lots of trash. Here’s a photo, thanks the Dirty Hands Caravan blog

Gus Fruh Trail improvements 2/08

Here’s a photo of the Gus Fruh access trail – part of Barton Creek Greenbelt. This trail was resurfaced over two volunteer workdays, on 2/2 and 2/9 by volunteers from Austin Parks Foundation, Greenbelt Guardians, Austin Ridge Riders, Hash House Harriers and the Austin Parks and Recreation Dept. It looks great!

Surfacing at Gus Fruh / Barton Creek Greenbelt

Ok, surfacing doesn’t mean going for a winter swim at Gus Fruh pool, since the creek there is dry, it refers to the big effort to resurface much of the access trail from Barton Hills Drive down to the trail and pool area at Gus Fruh. On Saturday, 2/2, we were joined by over 40 volunteers from the Austin Ridge Riders, Hash House Harriers, Hill County Outdoors, Central Texas Trail Tamers and the hosting Greenbelt Guardians to haul, spread and pack down six cubic yards of road base as step one to re-surface the trail. In addition, we had volunteers with saws cutting down and treating the ever present ligustrum along the creek’s main trail and a smaller subset of folks hauling big rocks out of the rock to use for several rock retaining wall projects at Gus Fruh Pool. As the photo shows, wheelbarrows full of roadbase (and breaks for those pushing them) were in force on Saturday.

Next Saturday (2/9/08) we have part two of the effort – granite gravel mixed with a binding polymer will be hauled spread and packed down, along with more invasive species removal, rock work and other tasks. Please join us!

Greenbelt Guardians Trail at Gus Fruh

Greenbelt Guardians is a mostly neighborhood group that works to improve the trails at Gus Fruh and Homedale access trails. With the water running in the creek and two new swimming dogs (see picture below), we’ve been heading there evenings and mornings to check out the constant 100 cfs flow.

What’s really amazing is all of the work done by Greenbelt Guardians on the new Gus Fruh trail. So, the next time you’re walking down the trail, turn right, vs. going straight down the “old fall line mule trail” and enjoy the switch-backed, smooth surfaced trail that has been completely rebuilt over the past four years by Greenbelt Guardian volunteers. A lot of rock has been placed, gravel hauled and packed into place, and invasive trees and plants cut and pulled out. Its looking really good right now, so turn right and check it out!

Me with my dogs Jessie and Tugboat (on my lap) at Gus Fruh.

Understory

Last weekend I visited two different trails that have had extensive non-native plant removal. It was really neat to see the difference in the understory of these areas compared to, say, Shoal Creek. At Gus Fruh Trail, the Greenbelt Guardians have waged a years-long campaign against ligustrum. The result is an open understory with a wide variety of native trees and plants coming up. Lots of diversity. Same thing at Bull Creek Greenbelt – you can see further into the woods and there are all kinds of different things growing. (Including lots of poison ivy – a native – so be careful if you visit!)

I’m sure Charlie will want me to point out, we’ve been working hard to restore Shoal Creek’s natural balance, too, by removing invasives like ligustrum, nandina, and chinaberry.