In our quest for lesser-traveled locales for trail walks with our family, we recently took a little visit to the Hamilton Greenbelt. Not to be confused with Austin’s popular Barton Creek Greenbelt, and in no connection at all with Hamilton Pool Preserve, the Hamilton Greenbelt is a lovely, well-maintained trail in the City of Lakeway, just about 20 miles west of Austin.
Hamilton Greenbelt is a beautiful, mostly-shaded trail with small waterfalls that is great for all ages. The Hamilton Greenbelt trail network includes Smith Greenbelt and Hurst Creek Preserve, offering several miles of both developed trails backing up to residential areas as well as primitive trails along Hurst and Yaupon creeks. The main trail path at the Hamilton Greenbelt entrance is very well-groomed for walking, hiking, nature exploring.
The Hamilton Greenbelt has a parking lot at the entrance off of Lohmans Crossing at Cross Creek (across from the Lakeway Justice Center). Here you are welcomed by a lovely garden area with benches, a restroom and a park map. You will also find picnic tables and benches along the trail, making it a good spot for a picnic and some easy nature exploring with kids. A mostly flat, wide trail surface means that it’s even a fine spot for pushing an all-terrain stroller.
The Hamilton Greenbelt offers a hike of approximately 5 miles (out and back), but it’s easy to make this as long or short as you wish. In fact, you’ll find pretty waterfalls merely .6 miles into the walk, so if that is all your kiddos are up for, there’s no problem turning around and calling it a success on a short hike. Check out the trail map here.
If you wish to venture off the main path around the waterfall, you’ll find interesting rock formations to climb around. Just watch out for snakes!
According to our own young critics, after you pass the waterfall, the trail becomes slightly less interesting to young kiddos and more like a nature walk (we’re sure that this could be because the creeks were fairy dry during our visit and could be more exciting if they are full of water). The trail takes has a bit less of a park-like setting beyond this point, although never really too challenging. You can continue on to find cool views of Hurst Creek emptying into Lake Travis.
Also, known for being a great spot for bird-watching, the Hamilton Greenbelt has a bird blind which is a great spot for kids to spy central Texas feathered friends. The bird blind is a shelter where you can observe the birds in close quarters and it even has an identification chart posted to help you identify the winged creatures on the trail.
While there is no beating the strong Texas heat at this point in the summer, we were very pleased with the Hamilton Greenbelt as a shady spot for a new-to-us trail walk. Of course, with anywhere you go, remember your face masks, take along plenty of water and to stay 6 feet apart from others. To try to avoid crowds, try visiting during weekends and morning hours.
For more info, you can visit the Hamilton Greenbelt page on the Lakeway City website.
We hope you enjoy checking out this trail!
