Government Canyon: Adventuring In My Backyard

For the last  19 years of my life, I've never lived further than 15 minutes away from Government Canyon. Though I've passed the entrance along Galm Rd countless times, I've never really had more than a fleeting curiosity as to what the park contained. Being that I had recently been to both Enchanted Rock, Lost Maples, the Grand Canyon and Monahans State Park, I figured it was time to change that.

On a warm late-November day, I armed myself with an drawstring backpack, three bottles of water, a banana, a drone (I didn't use it, I know the rules), a new gimbal to test out, and I set out for the Canyon.

This wasn't the first time I had set out to go hike, I had actually attempted to go the weekend prior. On the way, I checked their twitter feed at a stoplight and noticed that they had closed off the area to capacity, so I went to my parents instead. This time I went on a weekday when I was sure I wouldn't have an issue getting in.

Upon arriving I seemed to have bet right, no line of cars at the entrance, and maybe only 3 vehicles in the parking lot. I also arrived later in the day, just before 12:00 or so. In November the sun sets fairly early, so arriving for a noon hike shouldn't be an issue since I was only planning to hike one of the smaller trails. I went to the gift shop to pay my admission, get a map, and being that this is something I want to do more often, I also made sure to purchase the State Parks pass.

So right at 12:00 I set the GPS app on my phone to record, and set out for the trails. Seeing the map had a couple of overlook spots, my initial plan was to see one, and then start a short trek back to the starting point. This would be a hike of about 3-4 miles round-trip, an easy enough day to start with, or so I kind of thought.

I made it to the Canyon overlook about an hour and a half into the hike, which admittedly was a very nice view. It kind of sneaks up on you since you aren't really expecting to see anything at that point. Thinking I was making good time, I thought I would press on further... and further.

About four miles in, I hit the border of the protected wildlife habitat area. While this would have been a neat hike, it was already 2:30, and I had about 3 hours left of sunlight. I decided to take the longer route back to the trailhead, as this would pass both of the remaining overlook areas I had yet to see. So after stopping to snack on a banana, I set off again.

Eventually after two more overlook areas, and another 4 miles, it became pretty clear I was running out of daylight. I had about maybe 45 minutes of daylight to work with, and 2 miles to trek back to the trailhead. This wasn't difficult at all as I had to basically make sure to limit my stops.

I ended up spending a lot more time recording video on my phone than I thought I would have. What I thought would be a quick in-and-out trip for a couple of hours ended up being a five hour, 10-mile excursion in the park.

I'm not sure why I had written off Government Canyon before, as it's a very nice place to hike. Sure, it doesn't have some of the views of Lost Maples, I found the trails to be much more accessible. Lost Maples is also a two-hour drive from San Antonio so in theory you can get a quick walk in and back before lunch, whereas somewhere further becomes an all day endeavor.

I'm glad I got the parks pass as I plan to be back more often. It would be a neat achievement to be able to have explored the entirety of the park, which would need to be done between September-February since that's when the habitat area is open.

For now I need to debate which Texas Park to visit next. Any recommendations?