Only isolated pools are left, and they’re barely moving. Expect warm, murky water with more bacteria.
The cascades and pools at the bottom of the Hill of Life, upstream of Sculpture Falls. The creek here sits above the biggest aquifer losses, so it holds water a little longer.
Standard local guidance (City of Austin watershed protection, LCRA): wait 48 - 72 hours after significant rain before swimming in creeks; up to a week after major floods. How this countdown works
Where the threshold comes from
Based on the Lost Creek Blvd gauge just upstream. The aquifer often empties the whole creek before Loop 360, so the downstream gauge says nothing about this spot. No tracker publishes a range for this spot, so we use Sculpture Falls’ range.
Swimming ranges come from austintexasthings.com/flows and greenbelter.io, two long-running hobby trackers.