Colorado River Refuge - Two Bridges Trail

Bastrop, TX

The green grass off the trail is lush and plentiful.

The Colorado River Refuge is made up of 65 acres that stretch along the Colorado River in Tahitian Village Subdivision in Bastrop, TX with 3 miles of hiking trails. It’s protected and preserved by Pines & Prairies Land Trust. I was looking for an excuse to get out of the house and get in some photography practice with my new Sony a7 IV mirrorless camera. I was particularly looking for a place where I could have some privacy and not make people feel paranoid that I was taking pictures of them (a lot of people get really nervous around cameras). I hadn’t actually looked for information on the trails in the refuge, I just vaguely remember walking it when I lived in the area about 10 years ago, but this place was exactly what I was looking for and will be a place that I frequent.

There’s a few trails in the refuge (which borders the Bastrop County Nature Park) and several places along the trail where you can park and begin a gentle hike. During this trip, I started at the east end of the trail in the Bastrop County Nature Park, which has a nice landing that acts as a takeout point for kayakers (many put in at Fisherman’s Park).

To the west of the landing begins Morrison Loop Trail which, if followed, will lead you to the Cottonwood Kings Trail as seen on this map.

As you begin down the well-maintained dirt path, you will shortly find yourself in a cool breezy area with plenty of beautiful green grass and intriguing sounds of creaking tree bark stretching and rubbing against the other tree branches.

There are plenty of different types of trees to acquaint yourself with as several of them are labeled with both the common name and scientific name.

There are plenty of picnic tables and rest areas that are a great place to spend your lunch break or just contemplate and meditate without the distractions of screens.

Continue down the trail and it eventually becomes The Two Bridges Trail. Shortly after, you’ll see the first recognizable landmark sometimes referred to as The Quesadilla Cliffs.

Someone was even confident enough to carve a hawk into a soft rock wall nearby.

This is a great place to take kids and stop for a photo-op. You can even climb and have them pose from the top!

As you continue, there are plenty of short breakaways to the water if you want to skip a few rocks or just get some sun.

There’s a variety of plant life to take in, including the famous Texas Bluebonnet, Texas Baby Blue Eyes and Spiderwort.

There’s also a clearing with several Prickly Pear Cacti and some Agave plants.

Clearing at the Entrance to the Colorado River Refuge

Prickly Pears

You can even begin your hike here, it’s where the Colorado River Refuge sign is found and the Two Bridges Trailhead begins.

Sign in the Parking Area

This clearing is a great place to watch the butterflies at the right time of year. At the bottom of this clearing is a nice sign cataloging all of the birds you can see while walking these trails.

Not long after observing this sign,

I was moseying along looking at the ground thinking of something funny.

When I lifted my head,

I saw a HUGE Red-Tailed Hawk perched about 12 feet from my face.

Our eyes locked,

The hawk cocked its head and let out a wicked blood-curdling scream that scared me half to death.

Like a bumbling tourist I fumbled around trying to grip my camera to get the glory shot,

But I was too late and I only managed to get this blurry mid-flight photo.

I now know why there aren’t any definitive pictures of Sasquatch.

These hawks are SO MUCH BIGGER up close.

I traveled down the trail and caught up with my newly soul-bonded friend that stared deep into my being and sent shivers down my spine, but this meeting was not quite as intimate. However, that didn’t stop me from pointing my camera in the air and waving it around like a moron - I was able to capture this beautiful silhouette. That’s about as good as I could get. I tried to follow, but they can cover so much ground (or air) so quickly.

Continuing down, after you meet your spirit animal and have a mind-altering experience, you’ll see an awesome train trestle that you’ll surely want to capture a photo of, but what you’ll really want to do is reenact your favorite scene from Stand By Me. Be careful not to slip on the loose rocks heading up to the top.

Colorado River Bridge

At the bottom of the trestle, you’ll see a nice motivating message (as well as some unsavory ones).

Along the way. you’ll see several ants carrying away prized pieces or treasure.

There’s no signs stating this, but I’m pretty sure you shouldn’t try and fit your children in there.

I saw that the trail continued on from here, but I had a feeling that I was nearing the end, so I turned back and went home. I was wrong! There’s so much more to explore and I will do that in the coming days and be sure to document it in another blog post. The ground I covered in the trip is shown here ->

There’s still all this left to explore!

The Two Bridges Trailhead is located at 315 Riverside Dr, Bastrop, TX 78602. There should be plenty of parking, but if there isn’t, there is another small parking area at the Cottonwood Kings trailhead just down the road. Beyond that, there is the Bastrop County Nature Park where I began my jaunt, which also had a lot of parking - there are plenty of options. Overall I was very pleased with my experience -  it took minimal effort to find and what I saw and enjoyed surpassed my expectations. I’m looking forward to seeing the rest of it!

Here’s some more pictures in case you didn’t get enough!