Government Canyon State Natural Area

Pleasant Morning Hike
By plectrudis on 9/3/2017
Rating: Difficulty: Solitude:
Distance: 7.50 Miles Duration: 3 hours, 30 minutes

I get the impression that this park is busier than it used to be.  It's ringed by suburbs (though it's big enough that you don't see/hear them from the trail), and while it wasn't crowded, there were a fair few joggers/trail runners.

Started hiking around 8am, which meant that we had shade for most of the trip; by early afternoon, though, I think most of the shade would be gone, and the trail would be pretty exposed.

We went as far as the Zizelmann House on the Joe Johnston trail, which meant that we saw the dino tracks and this really cool spot that was dripping with Spanish moss.

The tracks were okay--one site was covered in water, but in the other two we could see 3 theropad prints quite clearly and a thing that could be a sauropod track. They're roped off for preservation, which is fair enough, but it's nothing like as cool or as numerous as the tracks at Dinosaur Valley, or the Hill Country Heritage site, or the tracks in the San Gabriel river by Leander.  

By mtuncap1955 on 4/4/2015
Rating: Difficulty: Solitude:
Distance: 6.00 Miles Duration: 2 hours, 45 minutes

Completed the Joe Johnston Route up to the old ZizelmannI House.  Nice weather, gradual elevation, some rocky areas, and stopped at the fossil site along the way.

Worth A Second Trip
By BigFrank3 on 7/12/2008
Rating: Difficulty: Solitude:
Distance: 6.00 Miles Duration: 4 hours

There were a lot of mountain bikers, but just as many hikers.  The trails are very clearly marked.  I did the Joe Johnston trail, to Little Windmill, to Sendero Balcones, back to the recharge trail, and home.  An early start is best, as it was really hot by Noon.  I was on a limited time frame, but I look forward to getting back when I have more time.

Have to come back again
By Austin Explorer on 11/19/2006
Rating: Difficulty: Solitude:
Distance: 6.60 Miles Duration: 4 hours, 43 minutes
Coppertone and I covered the Wildcat Canyon and Far Reaches trails today. At this rate it will take maybe three more visits to hike everything that the park has to offer. The butterflies were out in droves today. At some points along the trail our passing by caused a virtual swarm of them to take flight. Very entertaining. Being a very nice day, there were plenty of other people on the trail, both on foot and on bikes. Looks like lots of other people have found out about Government Canyon. One might find more solitude farther back in the park.

Decent, but not spectacular
By bolilloradio on 3/4/2006
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.