Getting Lost

Sunday morning I went for my first run in two weeks. Supergirl found a park just down the street from her apartment, so we drove down to go for a morning run.

It all started at Balcones Pool, which we were happy to discover is free. The friendly lifeguard gave us several options for getting to the trail. She directed us to run behind the pool to find a path that leads to the park trail.

One hundred yards into a narrow, overgrown path, I was sure we were about to get "Blair Witched". A silent sigh of relief escaped my lungs when we set foot on the hard granite trail.

Now, we were under the impression there was a 3-mile loop in this park. Once on the trail, we picked a direction, memorized our starting point and set off on our run.

It's not a loop. And there are MANY forks on the trail.

And there are lots of flooded crossings.

Moving through the Town Lake hike/bike trails is pretty straightforward: there are signs, mile-markers, and nice crushed granite on the ground. When the trail is flooded, signs are put up warning you before you get there.

The trail in the Balcones Park isn't marked so well. And it's certainly NOT a loop. It's really just a 1-mile(ish) dash down the middle of the park. There is one branch off the middle.

Of course, we didn't see a map before going in, we, the adventurers we are, ran right in. And yes, we got lost. We kept trying to go in a circle around the park and kept taking turns that moved us in a circular manner.

Eventually we hit an area with no trail and only one exit: someone's back yard. After a few runs through tall grass, weeds, etc. we gave up. We ran through the yard, ended up in a strange neighborhood and attempted to continue in our circular pattern. Some kind ladies having a late breakfast on their porch helped us back to the pool. Without them we would definitely have had a tough time getting back.

The lesson here is to do a little more research before going into a strange park. We know this of course, but we're impatient people. Next time, I'll check with Austin Explorer which has pics of waypoints and bridges. I don't think we saw any of this stuff.