The Ruck to the Rock Challenge is to get you off the couch during quarantine, embrace the unknown elements of this adventure, enjoy an incredible part of Austin, and to get a good workout in!
Bored during Quarantine? Looking for something active to do and free??? Why not take on the Ruck to Rock Challenge?!?!
Please respect social distancing during the COVID-19 Restrictions. This is meant to be a household challenge and not meant to be a challenge that physically gets people together.
Challenge Map:
Starting at the HWY 306 entrance to the Barton Creek Greenbelt, you will navigate your way through to the entrance of Barton Springs Pool and then back totally about 7 miles. To keep it simple, there are just 3 check-points on this challenge.
The HWY 360 Entrance to Barton Creek Greenbelt
Philosopher's Rock at the entrance to Barton Springs Pool
Back at the HWY 360 Entrance to the Barton Creek Greenbelt.
At each check-point, you should take a take a photo of yourself, post it to Facebook with the hashtag #RuckToTheRock. This will also let us know who’s participating and help us stay connected!!!
On this route, you will come across many trail options…spoiler alert, they all crisscross and as long as you don’t go towards HWY 360 when you’re hiking, they all take you to Barton Springs Pool. There are however MANY entrances/exits to the Greenbelt. Think of the Barton Creek Greenbelt as trails within a small canyon. The only entrance/exit I know that is not part of a steep-ish hill is the trail end at Barton Springs Pool…which makes sense because Barton Creek meets with the 4 Springs around Barton Springs Pool and all merge into Lady Bird Lake. So, once you are in, there will be better and worse routes to take, but, as long as you don’t hike up and out accidentally along the way, they will all lead you the direction you need to go. One more note, if you do happen to hike up and out, it will be obvious. You’ll appear in a parking lot or a neighborhood that is clearly not Barton Springs, just hike back down and in and continue on…a mistake like that will probably cost you 5-10 minutes max, so there’s nothing to worry about.
Want to make the hike more challenging? Wear a Ruck, i.e. a weighted backpack.
You can put weights, cans of food, sandbags, etc. in a backpack and hike…it’s called rucking. The recommended weight will be
10lbs if you weight less than 150lbs and
20lb if you weight more than 150lbs,
There will be plenty of people who just hike without a ruck and people who ruck with even more than the recommended weight in their backpack. The Challenge of this is to get off the couch, embrace the unknown elements of this adventure, and get it done!
The greenbelt does have a creek in it that you'll have to cross. Most of the year it's pretty dry, but if it's been raining, you may have to take your shoes off in a shallow area or just jump right in, get wet, and swim to get across. There are a ton of swimming holes in the greenbelt, so if the weather is nice, take a dip in one of the swimming holes or at Barton Springs Pool when you get there! Be sure to take some water as the hike could be 2-3 hours long. There are water fountains outside of Barton Springs Pool. This is not the only way to hike in the greenbelt, but we chose this as an easy to navigate route.