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South Austin Trail Network, The SATN


The Tip

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The BCGB "entrance" across from Rudy's was closed about 10-15 years ago. There was a pedestrian killed crossing 360 to/from get to the creek. Willie Conrad (BCP Secretary for years) decided that people crossing or getting killed was not a problem - but don't let them create a trail across BCP lands. The news stories just sent them out looking for new trails.

I googled and quickly checked my notes but did find anything to nail down the year.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Anyone have video of someone sending that drop on E Spank? Was trying to describe it to someone not from here.

I was over there exploring the other day and saw a sneaky up/down line between the drop and the main trail. It's on the side of the cliff with 2 switch turns. Someone has definitely stomped on it if not ridden it. Looks fun but with a high risk/reward. I tried going up but spun out after a few feet and decided not to really attempt it alone.

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Another example of a picture or video not doing justice to the pucker factor of a feature.

I'm not quite sure of the purpose of the new mountain goat trail you discovered. It certainly is not an easy up return to the top of the drop. Just a techy challenge I suppose. 

Edited by The Tip
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Nah I'm talking about the big one that we all stare at and wish we had the balls to do. That one looks easy.

The goat trail would be super tech going up or down. Not impossible but maybe beyond my ability to go up it. Going down I'm sure I'd reach the bottom one way or another.

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If I coming from San Antonio where would be the best place to begin a ride. I prefer the techy and rocky bits more than the flowy stuff. Is there a preferred trail head to start from with parking close by.

Thanks in advance.

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The closest spot would be Mary Moore Searight. But it's not exactly in the center of the SATN. It does have some challenging stuff if you know where to find it. 

The center of the SATN universe is at ATX Bikes' parking lot. There's a new challenging trail, Aesthetics, right behind there. There are a few other challenging spots easily accessible from there too. Bowie Stonewall is about the most difficult trail in the SATN but it is not very long. E Spank is fun. It LOOKS more techy than it actually is.

The Meridian Bowl has some techy options. 

But the SATN is mostly flowy stuff with small obstacles here and there. Also a lot more berms and jumps lately. All more or less connected too.

Edited by The Tip
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On 6/16/2020 at 2:10 PM, natas1321 said:

If I coming from San Antonio where would be the best place to begin a ride. I prefer the techy and rocky bits more than the flowy stuff. Is there a preferred trail head to start from with parking close by.

Thanks in advance.

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SATN is not where I would go for tech. Nearby is BCGB. Or Emma Long. You can find good info on www.AustinBike.com.

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SATN is not where I would go for tech. Nearby is BCGB. Or Emma Long. You can find good info on www.AustinBike.com.
Emma long is one of my favorite rides, just looking for something different. Also like BCGB but only get out that way a handful of times each year.

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 5/29/2020 at 5:27 PM, GFisher said:

They tried to have the entrance shut down years ago. I remember the City Council meetings. Council basically said if we shut it down, you will all just create your own private entrances. I quit parking there after that. I rarely drive there, but even when I did, I would park over by Westlake High and ride over. There was also talk of a new entrance in the area you speak of, but I don't recall exactly why it got shut down. As mentioned, that is all BCP land so they aren't exactly trying to increase accessibility or impervious cover. Really, the huge problematic crowds die down once the water dries up. It is really only swimmable for a fraction of weeks out of the year. More realistically, everything outside the main trail/HOL and VC could get fenced off (which has also been brought up). Some things don't need to be super accessible.

More recent - from 2018 - https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/homeowners-trying-to-limit-parking-on-their-street-near-hill-of-life/1294762305/

I guess we have an answer as to what they're doing with that entrance:

http://austintexas.gov/WoodsofWestlakeParking?utm_source=Austin+Mobility+Newsletter&utm_campaign=1cd73765b7-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_07_06_06_26&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_4273909b8d-1cd73765b7-197077275

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1 minute ago, AntonioGG said:

I don't see how this is a solution to the people living on Scottish Woods.  People will still get to the park there after they fork over their money but now more people will treat it like a public parking lot instead of a private street.  

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14 minutes ago, Tree Magnet said:

I don't see how this is a solution to the people living on Scottish Woods.  People will still get to the park there after they fork over their money but now more people will treat it like a public parking lot instead of a private street.  

I agree.  If anything it seems like an inconvenience to them now having to register their cars.

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It was sad that they threw COVID on there as a reason for doing this. First, it has been an ongoing problem and by dropping that it you essentially minimize the situation. Second, eventually the virus goes away and people will expect the meters to disappear. Yeah, overall a bad positioning of the situation. 

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It was sad that they threw COVID on there as a reason for doing this. First, it has been an ongoing problem and by dropping that it you essentially minimize the situation. Second, eventually the virus goes away and people will expect the meters to disappear. Yeah, overall a bad positioning of the situation. 

Meters disappearing?! That’s rich.


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I did not say it will happen, I just said that people will have an expectation because the virus was part of the justification.

Growing up in Chicago we had a tollway, I-294, that had a promise that when the tollway way paid in full from the tolls that the toolbooths would come down. Once they paid it off, instead of removing the booths, they raised the toll.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I know groups of 3-5 are going out together.

I am missing the C&Ds.  Could we do it safely? Show up in masks, social distance, go off in small groups (5 max?), then social distance afterwards? There's plenty of room to spread out for sure. I think we're all now aware about boundaries and know how to space out.

We've been having friends come over to socialize in our backyard. We're outside and we keep our distance. We don't wear masks when we do this. We feel very safe. 

It's just that slip stream thing that worries me. How far back from the guy in front of you do you have to ride to insure dispersion of aerosols? 

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45 minutes ago, The Tip said:

It's just that slip stream thing that worries me. How far back from the guy in front of you do you have to ride to insure dispersion of aerosols? 

Same here.  The deal is that when you usually bunch up to the rider in front of you is when there is an obstacle or climb.  When people hit those, they huff and puff to try and get the power to get over it.  That's exactly what I'm trying to avoid riding through.  For me, it's been too big of a risk to take for the reward.  I've been doing a lot of solo riding and as much as it sucks, it beats bringing home Covid to the family that I'm asking to quarantine during a pandemic.  I think that riding behind someone is going to give you very little exposure for a short time.  However, when you ride behind them for a longer time, that small exposure suddenly becomes significant.

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8 hours ago, The Tip said:

I know groups of 3-5 are going out together.

I am missing the C&Ds.  Could we do it safely? Show up in masks, social distance, go off in small groups (5 max?), then social distance afterwards? There's plenty of room to spread out for sure. I think we're all now aware about boundaries and know how to space out.

We've been having friends come over to socialize in our backyard. We're outside and we keep our distance. We don't wear masks when we do this. We feel very safe. 

It's just that slip stream thing that worries me. How far back from the guy in front of you do you have to ride to insure dispersion of aerosols? 

Yeah, I have not ridden a trail since February and have not done a group ride since the first week of March. It's getting very tiring, but I think I can venture out onto the trails in a few more week. Still miss riding with people and hanging out afterwards but the risk is much higher than the reward, so the ratio is still off for me. I generally trust my friends, but I don't *know* my friends. Do I really know how many contacts they have had that week. "I'm being really safe" is a tough statement to dissect because everyone's opinion of safe differs and you can't really get to the real answer without asking a ton of questions that makes you feel like a jerk. Social media is a good gauge in weeding out some (pictures tell no lies) but not everyone is active on social media and just because you didn't post a picture of you in a restaurant does not mean you weren't in one...

Hopefully we get to a vaccine in 2021 and things can somewhat get back to normal.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

My local plant knowledge is dreadful. Anyone know what this stuff is? There’s a bunch round Whirlpool- not sure if it is the same for everyone or just a special treat for me, but this makes me super itchy almost immediately.

I could contribute and trim it back you say? I might do next time I’m out that way if I can get the enthusiasm together, and some loppers that will fit in my camelbak.

C68EC665-D953-4185-A700-5099B8E52385.jpeg

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