Bright Leaf Preserve

One of the houses I lived in as a child was across the street from Bright Leaf Preserve, and yet I had no idea it was there until I did a Unilocal search for day hikes in and around Austin. I did a bit more research and was excited to discover it’s open to the public only for guided tours. So yesterday I showed up for this month’s weekend tour.
The hike is nice. There’s nothing spectacular about what you’ll see on it (lots of cedar, yucca, and limestone), but it makes for a perfectly enjoyable, not-​very-​hard walk through woods populated with native plant species. When you get to the top of the highest point of the property, you can look west across the river and see the radio antennae and the 360 bridge, which is cool.
So the park itself is lovely. What was not so lovely was the guide. Although she was very knowledgeable about the history of the preserve and the plants you can find there, she seemed like a grouch with an axe to grind. It seemed like half of the information she gave us concerned neighbors trespassing on the property. While I understand how this could be a major problem for the property, there’s just no way you’re NOT going to explore a nature preserve in your backyard (assuming that, unlike my clueless childhood self, you realize it’s actually in your backyard!), especially if it’s open to the public only once a month. I mean, come on. Our guide’s diatribes against the neighbors came off as incredibly unprofessional and were pretty off-​putting. I would have much preferred to learn more about golden cheeked warblers, cedar sage, and so on. I hate to end with such negativity, but she really left a sour taste in my mouth.
Maybe I’ll try again some other month.

It’s the kind of place where, when they hear of it, long-​time Austinites will say, «What!!! That sounds amazing – I’ve never even heard of this place!».
I had never heard of this place and it sounded amazing*. BL is a giant swath of land — 200 acres — next to Mt. Bonnell. This pristine parcel is on the edge of the Edwards Plateau, full of limestone upthrusts – «balcones» (Spanish for balconies)– and native specimens. It is a nesting zone for the threatened Golden Cheeked Warbler and habitat for the rare Bracted Twistflower and Sycamore Leaf Snowbell.
I had a naturalist friend in town, wanted to check out Bright Leaf and so called their number to inquire about a guided tour.
This is the ONLY way to see Bright Leaf. Bequeathed by Ms Lucas, who was clearly very forward thinking, purposeful and eccentric, Bright Leaf can ONLY be accessed by appointment or on their public days (see calendar).
I don’t know how easy it is to get a guided tour by appointment but I had great luck. Maybe it helped to explain that my friend was in town just for the weekend and works as a professor for an Environment Studies program. I was able to secure a tour in January on a Sunday at noon, a slot that worked perfectly for our schedule. We had not one but TWO naturalists meet us and take us on the tour.
The hike is wonderfully varied. It took two hours total to traverse the many dips and meanderings of the trails. Along the way, we were given information on flora, geology, fauna. We asked a lot of questions and all were answered with expert detail.
There was also a lot of quiet and silence along the trail, silence that you can fill with sighing as you soak it all up.
*Thanks to Unilocal’s Cotton for suggesting this hike. I owe you one.

Bright Leaf is a nature preserve located near Mount Bonnell which was donated. For access, you need one of the volunteer guides to let you in. A couple of days each month it’s open to the public.
It’s a beautiful hike. Not too strenuous and mostly shady. At a few points, you get a nice view of Westlake Hills. There are a wide variety of plants, and our guide said that he occasionally sees snakes, owls, and other animals. Due to the restricted access, it’s less crowded than similar trails near the city.
It’s worth the effort to gain access and hike in this area.