30 Hikes in 30 Days: Day Six: Mary Moore Searight Metropolitan Park

Just some of the many wildflowers at Mary Moore Seabright Park (Photo credit: J. Reyes-Fuchs

Day Six:  Sunday, June 21, 2020

Mary Moore Searight Park Trail is a 2.1 mile heavily trafficked loop trail located near Austin, Texas that features a river and is good for all skill levels. The trail offers a number of activity options and is accessible year-round. Dogs are also able to use this trail but must be kept on leash.

Those of you who have read previous installments in this series with a keen eye for detail may have noticed me wearing my Adidas Stan Smith sneakers.  While great for tennis and general metrosexual, quasi-retro stylishness, they're not ideal hiking shoes and were starting to take their toll on me, in the form of some painful low-grade plantar faciiatis.  I'd imagine if you're a hiker -- especially of "a certain age group" -- you're probably familiar with it.  If not, I do not wish it upon you, nor would I ever.  If you don't take my word for it, go ahead and google it, and be thankful you haven't had the pleasure.

This is a long-winded way of saying that my lovely bride bought me a pair of good Columbia brand hiking shoes as a Father's Day present, so that I could continue our hiking adventures pain free.

Before...

... and After

Excited to break in the new kicks, I followed my iPhone's directions to . . . the Borden Milk plant??  That was as close as we were able to get to our intended destination -- Colorado River Park Wildlife Preserve.  If there is an actual entrance or trailhead, we never found it.

Not to be discouraged, my lovely bride suggested we check out "the park next to Paredes Middle School," a place her work had taken her on several occasions.  Aside from its existence, she didn't know anything more about the place, other than that it looked nice from the outside, and caused headaches for the staff at Paredes, who occasionally had to chase down naughty students who chose to sneak off into the park next-door for a variety of reasons one can only imagine.

As it turns out, it is called Mary Moore Searight Metropolitan Park, and was a major find.  There are a tremendous array of wildflowers all around, and a big field that I'm sure was normally full of people, pre-Covid.  

One of many lovely flowers (Photo credit J. Reyes-Fuchs)

While it wasn't the original plan, we thoroughly enjoyed our hike, and managed to get a little turned around, as is our tendency.  But we were given directions by a very nice scout leader, and found our way out eventually.  

One note of caution:  while the trail was by no means "crowded" in the conventional sense of the word, there were definitely more hikers, joggers, and dog walkers than we've seen in any other park we've visited so far, so if you're concerned about the virus, you'll want to have that in mind.  But whether you choose to go now, or you wait till our numbers improve, I have no doubt you'll enjoy Mary Moore Searight Metropolitan Park.  

And by the way, the shoes worked out great!

MLB, looking stylish and proud of the excellent hiking shoes she got me