Creek's Still Dry
Turkey Creek Trail
- 2/21/2009
[View Log Page]
Rating:
Difficulty:
Solitude:
Distance: 3.00 Miles
Duration: 1 hour, 30 minutes
Creek is still dry but don't let that stop you as this is still a nice little hike. On a Saturday morning we encountered 20 people and about 15,000 dogs.
New Cedar Chopper Loop
Colorado Bend State Park
- 2/15/2009
[View Log Page]
Rating:
Difficulty:
Solitude:
Distance: 7.00 Miles
Duration: 4 hours
There's a new trail out here: the Cedar Chopper Loop. http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/pwdpubs/media/park_maps/pwd_mp_p4507_140.pdf
Not too challenging or spectacular but it gives you a good loopy way to get down to the Gorman Springs and Gorman Falls trails. I'd never been to see the falls before and both it and the springs were well worth the trek. The spring-fed creek has a ton of water in it but the falls looks like it is not running anywhere near its potential.
Absolutely Fantastic
Good Water Trail
- 12/15/2007
[View Log Page]
Rating:
Difficulty:
Solitude:
Distance: 11.00 Miles
Duration: 5 hours, 30 minutes
I've lived in and around Georgetown for over 9 years now and finally I hiked the south side of Lake Georgetown on the Goodwater Trail. A buddy and I started at Tejas Camp mainly because it allowed us to easily have my wife drop us off and we would be walking with the wind instead of against it. It was a bit chilly. The low water bridge at Tejas Camp is not passable for vehicles but you can still walk across it no problem. The flooding of the summer looks like it hit the area pretty hard; it looked nothing like it did when I was out there a year or so ago swimming. If you're going to park there, be sure to drive up from the south and not from 3405.
We only saw one person the whole time and that was in the last 3 miles or so. No one was on the lake and thankfully there were no hunters around either. Cedar Breaks Park was actually closed until 3pm that day, I'm assuming for hunters, so we'd had to park my car outside the gates. There were no crazy muddy spots except at the beginning where the trail seemed to follow the river bed for a bit. We only lost the trail once (there are lots of deer trails that are sometimes indistinguishable from the actual trail) but quickly found it again by cutting across toward the lake. Anyway, an absolutely fantastic hike that I think is best made in solitude even if it's 50 degrees. I can't imagine hiking it having to contend with boats on the lake blasting rock and country music the whole time.
Decent, but not spectacular
Government Canyon State Natural Area
- 3/4/2006
[View Log Page]
Rating:
Difficulty:
Solitude:
Distance: 9.10 Miles
Duration: N/A
Went with a buddy this past weekend to see as much of the park as possible. Some comments:
Not a spectacular park as there was no water in the creek (and doesn't look like there ever is except for rainstorms) and the high canyon walls were infrequent and way off the trail (we didn't go by the overlook though).
It's close enough to San Antonio for mountain bikers to make an afternoon of it. We probably saw 30 of them in 5 hours. But most of them were courteous (i.e. didn't try to run you over and thanked you for stepping to the side).
We took the Joe Johnston Route up the canyon, then went up Caroline's Loop, so we missed the overlook, which for all I know is pretty neat. Caroline's Loop was much less traveled, but that's about all it had going for it. Even the climb up was gradual and easy.
We hit Wildcat Canyon on the way back, which didn't feel like much of a canyon at all and had more bikers on it.
We hiked over 9 hard miles on rock half the time and enjoyed it, but my favorites will continue to be Lost Maples and Pedernales Falls, mostly due to the presence of water. I would recommend visiting on a weekday when there are fewer people around.
Thanks to all the people that worked to get it open though.
Solitude
Balcones Canyonlands NWR - Doeskin Ranch
- 1/29/2005
[View Log Page]
Rating: N/A
Difficulty:
Solitude:
Distance: 3.20 Miles
Duration: N/A
Went out on an overcast and slightly chilly day. The only sounds to disturb the quiet were the birds (more than I expected) and the occasional vehicle passing by on 1174. There was a large party of trail workers out there, but I didn't run across them until I had finished hiking.