Lake Travis is Unique

Lake Travis is quite unique for lakes in Texas, being very long and deep.  I believe that is what makes it arguably the best lake in the Highland lakes chain and even the best lake in Texas.  Since Lake Travis is about 60 miles long, any sediment that is suspended in the water as it enters the upstream portion of the lake has plenty of time to filter down to the bottom before reaching the more populated main basin portion of the lake.  Since Lake Travis is about 189 feet deep when full, even during times of drought there is plenty of water available for recreation and utility use.  This results in a clean, clear lake that is beautiful and functional for both utility and recreation.  In a diversion from most government built lakes, all of the Highland Lakes including Lake Travis were designed with recreation in mind as well as flood control and electric generation.  That brings me to why the Lake Travis area has experienced such a large amount of growth since it's inception.  Lake Travis, which lies only 20 miles to the West of Austin is an absolutely beautiful body of water, clean and deep.  On a clear sunny day, the color of Lake Travis is a rich vibrant blue.  Much of the topography of the surrounding area is very hilly and some parts that are even quite rugged leads to some awe inspiring views which are unrivaled in most parts of Texas.  There are many homes for sale with these spectacular views of Lake Travis.  The recreational aspect of Lake Travis is so vast that there is almost no limit to the amount of water activities that one can do.  If it's a water activity, it can probably be done on Lake Travis.  I'll highlight many of those activities in posts to come, but since there are so many it may take awhile.
For now I'll leave you with just one of the many spectacular views of this majestic body of water.



Lake Travis is truly unique in Texas



i love lake travis.com

Bryan Anderson

Why Lake Travis?

Yes, why indeed.  Before I can explain to you the why I love Lake Travis, and why you should too, I must first describe a little about the what of Lake Travis.  Now before I get too far, I'm not going to disparage the other lakes around central Texas, many of which have fine points indeed, however I will admit, out loud, that I am unabashedly partial to Lake Travis.  As I have stated in previous post, my little blog will serve to outline many of the reasons why I feel that way.

First I will ask you to please open up your history books to chapter 1 of Lake Travis, where we will learn that Lake Travis begins it's life as the Colorado River and in many respects in it's current state, is actually just a wide spot in the Colorado River.  The Colorado River winds it's way through the Texas hill country several hundred miles from the West and Northwest of Austin ending it's journey at the gulf coast near Bay City Texas.  Through the late 1800's and early 1900's there were several devastating floods that wreaked havoc on the growing town of Austin.  Each time the flood waters came through, buildings were destroyed, dams were burst and the cities growth was set back for years.  In the 1930's the project was begun to tame the Colorado River by constructing a series of lakes formed by dams along the Colorado River watershed and calling it the Highland Lakes Chain. This was a massive undertaking and even took the creation of a quasi governmental organization to oversee and manage the system of reservoirs formed by these dams called the LCRA, The Lower Colorado River Authority.  During the 1930'3 and 40's six dams were built, all of which have hydroelectric generators built into them so the LCRA could sell electricity to the surrounding area.  In 1942 the Mansfield Dam was completed which formed the longest and deepest lake in the chain of 7 lakes.  Lake Travis and Mansfield Dam are the only structures in the Highland Lakes chain specifically designed to contain flood waters and is the main flood control lake for the city of Austin.  Lake Travis is about 60 miles long and has about 360 Miles of shoreline.  As seen from above, the lake may remind one of a serpent-like creature with many appendages.



Google Earth picture of Lake Travis which lies 20 miles west of Austin Texas

i love lake travis.com

Bryan Anderson

Welcome to my "i love lake travis" blog!

Well I can't begin to tell you all the thoughts swirling around inside my head over what my first blog post of my entire life should be, so I've decided to start at the very beginning.  No, not when I was very young,  I'm thinking more along the lines of the beginning of my blogging career in general and of this blog in particular.  I have named the title of this blog "i love lake travis" because after living, working and boating on Lake Travis for 27 years I can truly say that I Love Lake Travis.

This blog will cover many aspects of Lake Travis, including the events, places and people living around Lake Travis.  Also, because I have been blessed to be able to work around Lake Travis selling real estate since circa 1983, I will be covering the waterfront so to speak, with regards to property values, communities and new developments.  Now again, since this is the first blog post of my entire life I'm going to keep it brief so I don't wear myself out prematurely.  Anyway, please stay connected and check back often to see what Lake Travis topics I may have covered.

i love lake travis.com

Bryan Anderson