still pic of rising water

Barton Creek Time Stream

Let me tell you about the Barton Creek Time Stream.

On a day when there’s water in Barton Creek, it’s a running oasis refreshing visitors.  It’s a source of joy and a scene of friendship.  And Barton Springs is our city’s main attraction in the world.  But the creek and the springs have many facets.  No savage clans ever fought harder over a source of water than the people of Austin have fought outsiders and each other over Barton Creek and Barton Springs.  And preserving those waters has been a labor of love for many.

So the creek and the springs have touched many lives in many ways.  They have left sweet dreams and memories, but also scars and bitterness.  It’s a big story.  And Karen Kocher has done much to tell that story, or those stories. 

Karen’s latest work, the Barton Creek Time Stream, is a great attraction that you won’t see at Barton Springs this summer, thanks to the pandemic.  But, you can see it in a virtual tour on September 10 at 6:30 pm.

Early this year, Karen invited folks to write something for the exhibit.  I wrote about some of my experiences with the creek and the springs, and she whipped me through several rewrites until she was happy with it.  She gave me permission to post it here.

My essay comes in three parts.  First is a short history of my involvement with the springs.  It’s not so short.  Second is a short paean to the dynamic geology of the aquifer, the creek, and the springs.  Third is a tutorial in how, when the creekflow is good, you can climb the creekbed horizontally.

All this might start you thinking about getting involved with the creek and the springs yourself.  You ought to.  It’s fun, and there’s a lot to do.

  • memories of environmental activism
    I made my biggest commitment to Barton Springs in 2006. Along with others, I formed a new volunteer organization we called Friends of Barton Springs Pool.
  • geologic history of the creek
    The creek is the beautiful juice of a dynamic geology.
  • How to to clamber along the creekbed during strong creek flow.
    Horizontal creekbed climbing is the spontaneous engagement with a current of the right force.
  • pen and ink on paper
  • pen and ink on paper
  • pen and ink on paper

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robincravey

Robin Cravey is a Texas poet, publisher, citizen, and lawyer. As editor and publisher if Tilted Planet Press, he has published several books of poems, including Diverging, I am a Comet, and Benchmarks. His book Watermarks has been serialized on the Austin Sierran website. A sixth-generation Texan, Robin grew up in Houston, loving tall trees, big clouds, girls, Omar Khayyam, Carl Sandberg, and Walt Whitman. He came to Austin to attend UT, loving clear water, peyote, taxicabs, women, newspapers, hitchhiking, Marcus Aurelius, and William O. Douglas. He married and had kids, loving Dr. Suess, Star Trek, Baghavad Gita, Mohandas Gandhi, and Macintosh. Eventually he volunteered way too much, published books, ran a business, fought city hall, went to law school, worked at city hall, ran a small law office, ran for public office. In recent years he has divided his time between Austin and Providence, Rhode Island, loving Wayland Square, bicycling, and long train rides.

2 thoughts on “Barton Creek Time Stream”

  1. What a significant contribution you have made to our city. Barton Springs was part of my childhood and made a forever imprint in my Austinite soul. I’d love to see a demo of horizontal creekbed climbing!

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