Mountain biking at Slaughter Creek Trail in Austin, TX
July 3, 2022 Team Snacks hosted a really fun mountain bike ride around Slaughter Creek Trail in Austin, TX. I took the opportunity to make a YouTube about it because it’s probably my favorite trail in the Austin area. Dear Diary Coffee is a proud sponsor of Team Snacks Cycling and Violet Crown Cycling, and for that reason, I have decided that writing about my favorite trail instead of working on our June financial report this morning is justified.
Slaughter Creek Trail is very much an intermediate trail. It has plenty of rock gardens, but the trail is so flat and wide, you can easily smash through them with speed. This same technique works well at Lake Georgetown where the Dragon Slayer ride happens every year. What makes Lake Georgetown tougher, though, is the rock gardens last for much longer stretches, so it take more fitness to maintain momentum for those durations.
It’s like a video game
Overall, I would liken Slaughter Creek Trail to the training level in a video game. It’s just a 5 mile loop—you can’t get lost—and the terrain is extremely varied. It’s like a little sample pack of Austin features: there are fields, wooded, rock gardens, punchy little ascents, and long descents. Everything is kind of a mild version of what you might find at other trails in Austin, though. For example, the descents are not a crazy grade; they’re just steep enough to help you gain speed it you choose to throw your chain in the big ring and go for it.
You’ll want to do at least a second lap
I really like the changing terrain because it makes the five miles go by pretty quick. Muleshoe Bend Recreational Area is just a 7 mile loop, but doesn’t quite as much variation, so Slaughter Creek Trail is still #1 for me. Also, the long descent in the back half of the trail really sets you up to just ride on into your second lap. You’re going so fast and having so much fun, you don’t even care that you’re headed back to the tricky rocky section at the beginning of the course. In fact, you are probably filled with adrenaline and the confidence that you’ll get through the second lap without a single foot-down. And then at the end of the second lap, you’ll swear you can beat your time with just one more lap. And so it goes.
Pedestrians
I think ALL of the trails in Austin proper are mixed use. At least Slaughter Creek Trail forbids dogs—unlike Walnut Creek Metropolitan. For the most part, the pedestrians are as nice as they can be. Even though the sign gives them the right-of-way on the trail, the vast majority will step off the trail to let you pass. It’s easier for everyone, really: a pedestrian can just take one step whereas a mountain biker might have to stop, dismount, and awkwardly push their bike between a couple of trees or something to truly clear the trail. Regardless, if I see a big party of pedestrians walking my way, I’ll ride off trail and wait for them to pass—assuming I’m in one of the fields or something where that’s possible. Oh! Horses are allowed at Slaughter Creek Trail. I think everyone knows to give them the right of way!
The nice thing about the no-dogs rule—in addition to not having dogs run out in front of you—is there aren’t plastic bags full of poop everywhere. It’s so bad in Austin. The same people that would be horrified to see someone throw their styrofoam McDonalds cup out of the window of their car throw plastic garbage stuffed with literal poop all over NATURE. At first, I gave folks the benefit of the doubt: maybe they were planning to come back for their poop bag and dispose of it before they left the trail. But then I saw a lady posting to Facebook with something like “I do it too, but I wonder if it’s better to just leave poop on the trail or leave a plastic bag with poop on the trail.” What is wrong with people?!
Okay, so no dogs at Slaughter Creek Trail. Thank doG.
