This month I visited Blunn Creek and McKinney Falls. Because I live so close to Blunn Creek I am able to stop by very regularly and see minimal changes in the scenery. The biggest change is probably the large amount of blue bonnets that have bloomed this month. This month has been strange for weather too. We have had rain, hot days, and a couple cold days. Overall, Spring has finally arrived! Its like “the mountain [has] invited you to get down and roll in its new grass and flowers (125).”A few of the weekends this month I was able to go do some service work by picking up trash and doing trail clean up at McKinney Falls State Park. I had never been to McKinney Falls until this month but I was an awesome experience. The main trail is between 3 and 4 miles long. You encounter a few different ecosystem within this park; forests, waterfalls, and small water holes embedded in the rock face of the waterfalls. McKinney Falls has lots of visitors so its a small fee to visit but it is worth the cost. While at McKinney Falls, we hiked through out the park. My favorite part of the hike was seeing the waterfall. I like it a lot because you walked upon the waterfalls. So it was like a cliff and the waterfalls came off on each side. The ecosystems that were a part of the rock face were strange, but also interesting because the a lot of them had water holes in them, but you knew that at one point in time there was a lot of water there. It made me think about the drought that Austin has been facing and the issues with the decrease in lake levels in the area. I also like the waterfall because of the size. I have traveled a lot in my life so I have been fortunate enough to see different waterfalls like Niagara Falls and many waterfalls in Thailand. The waterfalls while traveling are some of the most magnificent ones people can see. However, the McKinney Falls water fall was small, yet very peaceful. It was a nice contrast to the large more populated water falls that I have seen through my travels.
In visiting both Mckinney Falls and Blunn Creek this month I tried to monitor my levels of stress before and after going to the sites. When I went to Blunn creek for a small amount of time to take a picture or to just go for a walk my stress levels dropped slightly but stayed relatively the same. When I spent an hour or more out at these sites I felt as though my stress went away completely and a overall sense of calming came over me. I feel that spending time in the outdoors is essential and has far more health benefits than many realize. I love doing these nature blogs because it gives me an excuse to observe and enjoy the scenery that Austin has to offer!
