Good Water Trail

Type: Trail	Rating: (3.85)
Difficulty: (2.77)	Solitude: (3.46)
Length: 16.50 Miles	Elevation Gain: N/A
ADAAccessible: N/A	Interpretive Guide: No
Dogs Allowed: Yes	Bikes Allowed: Yes
Cost: Free	More Information: More Info
City: Georgetown	County: Williamson

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Getting there: To get there head north on I-35 into Georgetown and turn left onto Highway 29 and head west. Turn right onto D.B. Wood Road and head north into Cedar Breaks Park. Obtain a trail map at the park entrance.

The trail near the trailhead is composed of gravel. That soon changes in about a quarter mile.

The Hike: One of the longest trails in the Hillcountry area is also one of the most overlooked. The Goodwater Trail snakes around Lake Georgetown and almost completely encircles it. With several trailheads to choose from this hike provides ample opportunities for short day hikes or even a multi-day circumnavigation.

A rainy month prior to my hike meant that the falls at Crockett Gardens were gushing more than usual.

The most common starting point for a hike along Lake Georgetown is at Cedar Breaks Park, at the southeastern corner of the lake. Here the trail starts off on a well maintained surface of crushed stone, but within a quarter mile turns rocky and rough as it approaches the lake shore. Some of the best views of the lake occur near mile marker 1 on the trail and thereafter.

Lake Georgetown as seen from a point along the trail. Early enough in the day before the boaters showed up.

Along the trail there are numerous signs of the people who used to live in the area before the reservoir was filled in. At about the 2.5 mile mark on the trail lies Crockett Springs, sometimes referred to as Crockett Gardens. A natural spring feeds a small water fall. This little oasis provided water for a vegetable garden, that included the first strawberries grown in Williamson County. The remains of several structures can still be seen here, including a corral and a spring house. A history of the land that is now flooded by or adjacent to Lake Georgetown is available on the US Army Corps of Engineers web site.

The terrain between mile 5 and 6 may be the most interesting. The trail gets very rough and ventures through numerous rock fields.

The roughest, and perhaps most interesting, segment of the trail occurs roughly between mile markers 5 and 7. Here the trail cuts through rough terrain, sometimes passing through gaps between immense limestone boulders over six feet high. Thick clusters of cactus and Cedar also dot the area, sometimes partially overhanging the trail itself.

Between Mile Marker 7 and the Tejas Camp trailhead (near Mile Marker 11) the trail overall becomes flatter than the preceding miles. But between the long segments that cross lakeside plains there are occasional forays uphill into the Cedar and Oaks.

A view of the upper reaches of Lake Georgetown from the trail during a dry spell.

At Tejas Camp the trail crosses onto the northern shore of Lake Georgetown via a small bridge shared with light auto traffic. The crossing here is short because the lake has tapered back into the shape and name of the North Fork of the San Gabriel River. On the north shore the trail heads east.

In general, the north shore's trails are the easier ones and this is particularly true of the trails on the northwest sector of the lake. The trail here consists of wide jeep trails and dirt roads on terrain that gently undulates for several miles before things get a bit rougher.

The trail sometimes provides a view of the lake, but rarely approaches it directly.

No more than a half mile beyond Tejas Camp the official trail paradoxically leaves the wider path for a single track through Cedar and cactus. I totally missed this fork in the trail on my original pass and caught it only my return back to Tejas Camp from where I started my day hike. There is no sign indicating this and the wider path parallels this one and will rejoin it a bit later. Proof that the official trail is the narrower path is validated by the appearance of mile marker 12.

The area around Tejas Camp at mile marker 11 is a popular fishing spot.

The trail's gentle terrain changes drastically near mile marker 16 on the approach to Russell Park. It starts to look more like the south shore with rock outcroppings and boulders strewn about. The original end of the trail was at the 16.6 mile point in Russell Park and it's an uphill trek to get to the parking area there. The climb would be all the more challenging if you had tackled the trail in its entirety up to this point.

Looking back from the northshore to the southshore. Note the more rugged terrain on the other side of the lake.

Recent trail work by the Austin Ridge Riders and the International Mountain Bike Association has expanded the trail system beyond Russell Park and to practically encircle Lake Georgetown back to Cedar Breaks Park. I failed to find the continuation from the Russell Park trailhead, but I'm assured that it's there. I'll tackle that final segment on a later trip.

The north shore portion of the trail does get rougher near Russell Park.

Although popular with scouting groups for camping trips, the Good Water is not heavily used, particularly when venturing far from the established trailheads. What you will encounter on pleasant days is lots of boat traffic on the water. On one trip I even had to put up with a hovering helicopter on a sight-seeing trip.

Alternate trailheads exist at the end of West Lake Parkway (near Mile Marker 5), at Tejas Camp (Mile Marker 11 at the western-most tip of the lake) and at Russell Park (Mile Marker 16.5). Russell Park is closed from October 1 to March 31 every year, though the Corps of Engineers indicates that it's OK to park outside the park during this time, but at your own risk.

Bicycles are allowed on the trail, but only on the north shore of the lake according to official Corps of Engineers trail maps.

Fellow members have been kind to send in two separate large maps of the Lake Georgetown trail system:

Photos

At the Cedar Breaks trailhead the path is easy. Things get a bit rougher when the trail meets the lake and starts following its shore. (Photo by Austin Explorer)	Crockett Springs feeds a couple of waterfalls that descend into an arm of the lake. (Photo by Austin Explorer)	Near the springs the ruins of a springhouse and corral can be found. (Photo by Austin Explorer)
Located less than a half-mile in from Jim Hogg Park, this is one of the neat features of this section. (Photo by dburatti)	The Goodwater Trail cuts right through a corral. (Photo by Austin Explorer)	Another of the ruins found at Crockett Gardens. (Photo by Austin Explorer)
The trail near the trailhead is composed of gravel. That soon changes in about a quarter mile. (Photo by Austin Explorer)	Lake Georgetown as seen from a point along the trail. Early enough in the day before the boaters showed up. (Photo by Austin Explorer)	A rainy month prior to my hike meant that the falls at Crockett Gardens were gushing more than usual. (Photo by Austin Explorer)
The terrain between mile 5 and 6 may be the most interesting. The trail gets very rough and ventures through numerous rock fields. (Photo by Austin Explorer)	stepping stones on trail between Jim Hogg and Russell Parks (Photo by seejanplay7)	Wayside pool between Jim Hogg and Russell Parks (Photo by seejanplay7)
...a short walk from Sawyer with fresh brewed coffee in hand - THIS is what it's all about!!! (Photo by NewHiker)	December in Texas brings with it a beauty all its own...taken from the trailhead, south of Tejas Camp. (Photo by NewHiker)	a peaceful walk through the woods (Photo by dee0403tx)
very quiet, lots of solitude (Photo by dee0403tx)	Sunset over Georgetown Lake on Christmas Day, 2008, on the Good Water Trail leading to Crockett Gardens and Falls. (Photo by infernoii)

Log Entries

User: Frank James - 6/13/2010 [View Log Page]
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Distance: 2.00 Miles Duration: N/A

Started out at Cedar Breaks trail head and hiked it to the lake shore. I enjoyed this one very much. I wish i could of went further but my chi's couldnt make it any more. I had to carry one back lol. Very fun though its covered by trees so it wasnt hot at all. Not to secluded i passed 2 bickers and 2 pairs of other hikers. All in all it was fun.

Great beginner trail
User: Crazydad - 5/29/2010 [View Log Page]
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Distance: 4.00 Miles Duration: N/A
Took my daughter there today for the first time. Started at the Cedar Breaks trail head and headed in for 2 miles. Interesting variety of terrain from smooth to rocky that kept the hike interesting. Trail is mostly shaded, so even though it was mid 90's, it was not too bad. Make sure to wear good shoes, my daughter was wearing tennis shoes and her feet were hurting by the end of hike because of the rocks.

User: jinxleah - 5/10/2010 [View Log Page]
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Distance: 6.00 Miles Duration: 3 hours

I went to the Jim Hogg trailhead yesterday afternoon. This was my first of many visits. It took me 3 hours to hike because there is just so much to see and explore. I can't wait to see the rest of the trail! On my visit there were only three groups of people there. Me, the folks in the speedboat on the lake, and the folks manning the Corps of Engineers station. It made for a very nice hike.

End of our hike around the lake
User: sandew - 5/9/2010 [View Log Page]
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Distance: 11.00 Miles Duration: N/A

This was our 2nd trip around the lake, doing several miles each time usually weekly. We saw different things that we didn't see last year.

There's a candy box on the trail going east from Russell park that marks the turn along the fence to head north. It was helpful as due to the rain the trail that goes alon the road was under water. This was during January 2010.

We finished this year going east to west this time, as the last 2 miles is flat headed to Tejas camp, we felt this was a little easier than the opposite direction, in any case it's 11 miles, so started at 8 am and finished at 3pm.

The only thing we had forgotten about was the hill you had to climb (24 steps up and 19 down) before getting to the flat land. We may have taken the lower route last year due to the drought, but not able to do it this year.

Can't wait to start the hike when it's cooler again next fall (usually start about November).

Peaceful, easy spring hike- so many bluebonnets!
User: MaCtAzTx - 4/11/2010 [View Log Page]
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Distance: 3.00 Miles Duration: 1 hour, 30 minutes

We're estimating we only went three miles because of frequent stops to look at wildflowers or other interesting things. It was a cloudy day but brilliant with all the bluebonnets. We were fascinated by the wide variety of trees, flowers and plants as new transplants to TX.

We did an easy hike starting to the right of the parking lot-(Lake Overlook Rd entrance), then turned around knowing from what we read the trail goes on forever. Would've loved to gone further but did not have proper supplies: bug spray, extra snacks & h20. Only passed a few other people which was great. Would like to try another park entrance and do some trails on a more scenic part of the lake.

Not really my kind of hike
User: texaskdog - 2/14/2010 [View Log Page]
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Distance: 6.00 Miles Duration: 2 hours

Tried to find the Tejas camp on the west end and couldnt locate it. Wound up in someone's driveway and had to back out. Finally found the east end. They dont let you on the dam anymore. Takes 20 minutes of walking to even get to the lake, and the path doesn't really go close to the lake. Pretty redundant til you get to the falls and that was just okay as you see it from the top, then we turned around. Temperature dropped 15 degrees at the halfway point so wasn't too fun an experience for us.

Great hike! Mostly treed
User: sandew - 4/6/2009 [View Log Page]
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Distance: 28.00 Miles Duration: 1 day, 6 hours

Every 5-6 miles we hiked were different. Winter time was the best, no bugs or wildlife to interfer with walk. There is 26 miles marked, but doubled a lot of the miles.

Two bridges are around MP 3, and two hills are around MP 7, there are three primative camps, two on the south side of lake.

Good all around hike
User: westtexas - 3/18/2009 [View Log Page]
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Distance: 23.00 Miles Duration: 13 hours

We did the majority of the complete loop this past weekend, March 14-15 '09. We started at Cedar Breaks and worked clockwise, although in the future I'd probably reverse that and go counter-clockwise, getting the few miles of paved road and dam out of the way first. Due to a late start on Saturday, combined with a variety of stops to view scenery, etc. we started to worry about getting over to Walnut Springs in time to set up camp in the daylight. It was a 15 mile stretch from Cedar Breaks to Walnut Springs, and for a trio of 40+ year old backpackers in questionable shape, it was a little much. To ensure we'd make it in time to Walnut Springs, we opted to take the old Hunt low-water concrete crossing bridge instead of going all the way to the Tejas crossing, saving a little over 3 miles. Thus the reason for me posting that we did 23 miles of a 26 mile loop. The Hunt crossing was high and dry, and the river / lake is so low that we could have actually crossed a mile or so before even the Hunt crossing. We ended up at Walnut Springs around 5pm, and thanks to the recent rains, the burn ban had been lifted for the weekend allowing us to have a campfire. The following day we headed out of Walnut Springs, stopping at Russell Park to fill up on water. The hiking was nice with the cooler weather, although it was overcast and misting rain off and on. But the pain was the muddy trail, and the gumbo mud collected quickly on your boots forcing you to frequently clean them off or suffer what felt like was lugging an extra 10 pounds on each foot. As noted earlier, when you're already tired, finishing off the trail with a 2 mile hike across the dam and then paved roads (uphill) isn't the most pleasant of endings, so in the future we'll go the other way. Also, unless you're just a gung-ho speed hiker, and instead want to enjoy the hike, I'd probably break it up into a 3 day outing with shorter hikes. Plus I'd go when the trail is a little dryer. All in all, great scenery and decent solitude (we saw only a couple of groups on the trail and one group near us at the Walnut Springs Camp). We'll definitely do this one again! Long loops are rare in Texas!

Just to the falls and back
User: seamonkey78704 - 1/1/2009 [View Log Page]
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Distance: 5.00 Miles Duration: 3 hours

This is the first time I've been up to this park, or lake Georgetown at all, and it's also the first hike I've logged on this site, though I will have to decide if I'm allowed to log ones I've done, before I discovered austin explorer. I also had to decide how I'm going to rate these trails. I decided that I have to rate things in terms of Texas and local parks, as opposed to all trails everywhere... so, in terms of comparing this hike against, say, Yosemite up to the top of Half Dome, I'd rank it a 2, but as compared to other Austin stuff, such as Pedernales or the Barton Creek Greenbelt when the water is running, it's more like a four (with those two being the best ones around, and therefore 5's). I will try to keep an even balance on difficulty though, and other than a couple small hills and some uneven rock, this trail was pretty easy, hence the 2. Anyway... this was a great hike, and I may come back out and backpack the whole thing sometime.

User: infernoii - 12/25/2008 [View Log Page]
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Distance: 5.00 Miles Duration: 2 hours, 30 minutes

Very enjoyable hike. We drove up from San Antonio and had a late start so we didn't start hiking until about 3pm. We passed two groups on the way there and two groups on the way back and no boats in the water. It has been very dry so we took the trail down through the brambles to see the falls from below. Our dogs enjoyed the walk as well, although the trail is very rocky and I was a little concerns they would cut their paws on the sharp rocks. We were lucky enough to see the sun set over Georgetown Lake on the way back which was beautiful. Over-all, a very nice hike.

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