Hippie Hollow

They don’t call them “nude beaches” anymore apparently, the new terminology is “clothing optional.”

Hippie Hollow is a park run by Travis County, and is located on the banks of Lake Travis just outside of Austin. Despite the huge size of Texas, the park can boast that it is the only public clothing optional park in the state. The park is available for swimming, hiking, bird watching, and, well, you know, that “clothing optional” stuff, which leads to other types of “watching” it seems. Lake Travis is nearly 65 miles long, but boats just happen to drop anchor in the water off the park. Visitors, clearly not dressed for hiking, swimming, or bird watching seem to really like to visit this county park, despite the fact there are also a half-dozen other county parks.

As the story goes, the area has always been a spot where swimming in the buff has taken place. But in the 1960’s and 1970’s, the area took on the name, “Hippie Hollow,” and the name stuck.

At one time, there were no age restrictions to get into the park. That has now changed. You must be at least 18 to enter. It is also interesting to note, that while most other Travis County parks charge a vehicle $8.00 a day for a permit, Hippie Hollow charges all of that, plus a $2.00 surcharge. I wonder what that’s all about?

There are two questions you probably want to ask. Where is the photograph which normally accompanies the blog, and did you go with or without clothing? There are no photographs for obvious reasons, and yes, since clothes are optional, I opted for clothes.