Off the Road: Try the Purgatory Creek Natural Area in San Marcos on Bike or Foot

I’ve been hammering out miles on my road bike for the past few months, riding loops around Northwest Hills, along Shoal Creek, and over that cool bike and pedestrian bridge at Barton Creek.

Lately, though, I’ve grown weary of pedaling the same routes. So when a friend invited me to join him for a spin on trails at the Purgatory Creek Natural Area in San Marcos, I left the skinny tires behind and loaded up my mountain bike.

I sometimes have a hard time finding mountain bike trails that fit my ability level. I’m pretty comfortable on knobby tires — until I’m stopped at the bottom of a hill, looking up a daunting escalator of boulders. I like the downhills better — as long as the stair-steppy rock doesn’t go on for too long. In short, I like to have fun, but I’m not super good at the technical stuff.

My verdict on the Purgatory Creek trails? Love them. They’re just my speed, with lots of single track through groves of oaks and ashe junipers, across grassy meadows, and over some manageable roller coaster ups and downs.

Continue reading at https://www.austin360.com/entertainmentlife/20201027/off-road-try-purgatory-creek-natural-area-in-san-marcos-on-bike-or-foot.

 

Written by Pam LeBlanc, contributing writer, Austin American-Statesman