Mabel Davis District Park

I like sleeping in the woods of this park while I am in town for SXSW. there are deer and great herons. but all the while only about 3 miles from downtown! Catching the bus is easy from here.

Nice skate park, very rarely crowded, and had something for all skill levels.
Besides the skating there is a nice playground, trails, and the pool. The pill is closed for the fall and winter but I can’t wait to try out the diving board next summer.

If this place adds a few trash cans and a party gazebo, it gets 5 stars. I really like thus place.

Mabel Davis was the first public concrete skatepark to be constructed by the City of Austin. It was an experiment that has paid massive dividends to the residents of Austin.
The bowls are burly. The street course is pretty basic– ledges and stairs and a few banks scattered about. These photos submitted by ‘skatin-​it’ are not from Mabel Davis, btw. The Concrete Disciples photo is, though.
Several years ago, a pro skateboarding contest was held at Mabel Davis. I haven’t kept up with the scene much as of late.
The swimming pool is huge. Only $ 3.00 to get in. There’s a diving board, but it isn’t very bouncy and it’s a low-​dive, even though the pool is over 12′ and previously boasted a high-​dive board.
The playground is great and there are acres of open space.
Fueled by the success of Mabel Davis, newer concrete public skateparks have been built from larger budgets elsewhere in Central Texas. I still think Mabel Davis is my favorite, though.

Mabel Davis Park is a hidden gem. Now stay away. :-)
The park actually butts up against the development I live in but I didn’t start going there until recent times. It is a unique park in Austin for a few reasons. One reason is that it hosts 3 different aspects: wooded trails, Olympic sized swimming pool (only open in the summer) and a skate park.
SKATE PARK: I don’t skateboard expect in fantasies but I can tell you that the Mabel Davis skate park has some pretty cool dips and ramps that you can do some pretty sweet jumps off of. It is very crowded with future Tony Hawks pretty much year round.
POOL: The Olympic sized pool was completely re-​worked in 2005 and is a beauty! She has a very deep 12′ deep end that is fun to dive into off the one working diving board, or you can just swim into the darkest depths of the deep end and pretend to rescue drowning victims that need your help. There is a changing area with showers, and lockers. Unlike a lot of city pools this one is really clean. Cost is $ 3 to get in unless you are a child or senior citizen then it is cheaper. Pool is open when the kids are out of school (June — Aug).
TRAILS: The almost 2 mile trail that runs into the wooded area is very popular with joggers and dog walkers. In fact a lot of people use this area as an unofficial leash free dog park so don’t be surprised to find doggies running free. As a matter of further fact the City of Austin was recently looking to turn Mabel Davis into an official leash free dog park, an effort that failed for a couple of reasons: 1. In the 1950s Mabel Davis Park didn’t exist yet and was instead the city dump for the city hospital meaning that currently there are miles of mesh and protective barrier buried under the ground that the EPA annually regulates for seepage. This was sort of a problem considering the fact that dogs like to dig stuff up. And 2. There was a small but powerful grassroots group of homeowners that protested the likely increase of feces and other stuff in the creeks that run through the park and down to their properties so in effect the idea of this being an official leash free park died on the vine. But people still use it that way.
Other things to do at Mabel Davis: basketball court and picnic area.

After moving to my new place I was a little sad to be farther away from the town lake running trails. Although this park isn’t even close to being as perfect for running as town lake, it’s closer for those of us who are taking advantage of the lower costs of living southeast.
On the east side of the paved skate park is a mile long loop, half paved, half dirt trail. There’s a nice steep slope on one area that really gets the heart rate up. It’s surrounded by trees and vegetation and is very quiet in the mornings.
If you’re a runner living southeast, this place might be your solution for morning runs.

I feel like no one knows about this place, and that’s why I like it.
There’s a really nice trail that goes in a loop around the park, even though it’s not technically a «leash free» dog park/​area, I let my dog go free because I’m a rebel. She loves frolicking in the tall weeds and flowers.
I’ve never been to the pool, but it never looks packed and seems pretty nice. There is also a skate park if you’re into that kind of thing. The parking situation is splendid. And if you want to have a BBQ they have a shaded picnic area with a playground, as well as a basketball court.
All in all it’s a pretty sweet spot as far as parks go. I don’t know why they haven’t used all the space to put in a softball field or something, and I hear it might turn into a dog park eventually, but for now it’s a great place to take a walk.

A great park to just walk, swim, play basketball or skateboard.
Real shame they cut down all the natural reeds and bushes around the waterways in recent weeks, as it was attracting some really interesting wildlife as well as being home to the local deer family that have been at the park for a while now.
I hope the City of Austin let it grow back and leave it alone!

My 12 yr old loves going here for the skate park. Frankly, I’ve never really ventured past the skate park area, as he won’t leave it & I enjoy watching, so that’s really all I can comment on.
PROS:
a free skate park in a public park — always a good thing!
ample room for spectators to sit on benches or in the grass
room to set up parties &/​or bands
CONS:
it’s pretty far south, which is great if you live south, but we don’t
it gets pretty crowded & some of the older/​better guys can really be dicks to the younger kids who are still learning
it’s outside, so it’s subject to the elements
Overall, I like it & my kid loves it, so we’ll keep coming back. We had his birthday party there a couple of years ago. Talk about a super cheap way to do a party… just buy a cake & some snacks & tell the kids to bring their boards!

This is a cool place to swim, partly because it isn’t that well known. For lap swimming, it’s 50 meters long, which is twice as long as most neighborhood pools. It’s just east of I-​35. So far I’ve always had a lane to myself, so maybe I am not too bright to share this pool with others. But someone else was cool enough to share it with me, so check it out!

If you’re 30 something and have been dying to get back on your skateboard after a long hiatus and would rather not be slapped with a trespassing or destruction of private property misdemeanor, this is a good place to get back in shape.
The street course is the best of the free concrete outdoor parks in the area (Mabel, Round Rock, Lakeway) but it still lacks some key elements which makes it pretty hard to figure out any kind of decent line.
The bowl is by far the best of the free parks. There is no roll-​in, but dropping-​in in the shallow area shouldn’t be a problem for anyone who’s been on a mini ramp.
Keep it on the QT, but the best time to go is early Sunday morning before the kids are able to coerce their parents into driving them here. By 10 am the place is pretty overrun with youths and boards flying in every direction.
I wish there were more places like this in and around the city.

Mabel Davis District Park is located near i35 and Woodward. The coolest thing about it, I think, is that it used to be a landfill! What an example of turning lemons into lemonade, huh?
I work for the city (basically my life is just like «Proud Mary») and we get free swim classes this summer! I signed up for a class at Mabel Davis. We have an awesome Olympic-​sized swimming pool that is beautiful, newly completed (’05, y’all) and seriously not crowded. If you work for the city, you can get in free of charge, but if you don’t, it’s $ 3 for adults, and less for kids. That’s how come no one’s ever there!
Another sweet part of Mabel Davis park is that, only feet from the pool, is a fenced-​in skate park! It’s the first skate park in Austin, in fact! They’re having a SkateFest there in July– Google it for details.
Besides both of those awesome features, there is also 30 acres of grassy space, a playscape, a picnic area and a basketball court! This is so my new favorite pool in Austin, and favorite park! It totally makes me overuse exclamation points!