Description for Goodwater Trail
The GoodWater Trail is a 25-mile trail that winds around the shores of Lake Georgetown in Georgetown, TX. As of this writing, the entire north side of the lake -- 13miles from the Overlook Trailhead to Camp Tejas -- is open for mountain biking.However, only the 5 miles from Cedar Breaks Park to Cedar Hollow Campground is open on the south side, so it is necessary to ride both the north section and south section out and back (or run a shuttle.) The Austin Ridge Riders and other organizations are working on opening the remaining 5 miles between Cedar Hollow and Camp Tejas, which (when combined with the non-technical ride over the dam) will make the complete 25-mile loop bikeable. Until completed,however, do not ride past Mile Marker 5 (Cedar Hollow Camp) on the south side,as this may jeopardize the efforts to officially open the remaining section of trail to mountain bikers.
Most intermediate trails deserve their blue rating because they have a few scattered intermediate-level obstacles. Good Water is not like that. Although there are few obstacles that, taken in isolation, could be considered advanced, the trail simply never lets up on the intermediate stuff. It is solid blue the entire way to Cedar Hollow Camp and back and almost deserves an advanced rating simply because there isn't more than 50 feet of smooth trail the whole way. The terrain mostly consists of broken limestone, kaliche, and clay and is, in general, more like BLORA or Muleshoe Bend than it is like Barton Creek, but in some ways, it is more challenging than all of the above. There are a few1-foot-tall ledges, but most of the technical aspect comes from rock gardens,and plenty of them. Many of these gardens still have patches of cheese grater rock which hasn't been ridden enough to wear down the sharp edges, so Good Water South is Pinch Flat City (or, if you ride tubeless, Burp City.) The trail rarely provides any smooth sections to allow you to get up to speed. Thus, on many of the rock gardens, unless you have really strong legs, you'll end up riding through more slowly than you'd really prefer and using trials-type maneuvers to avoid stopping. It is an excellent place to work on bike handling skills.
Although the trail is technical, it has very little in the way of elevation change. Thus,riders who are in good shape should be able to maintain an aerobic heart rate for most of the ride. For an experienced rider, most -- if not all -- of the ride should be doable with only the middle chainring. It is definitely doable on a single speed, although some form of suspension is strongly recommended unless you have a thing for pain.
In general, this trail takes a long time to dry out. We rode it a week after a heavy rain, and it was still annoyingly muddy and probably should have been closed to biking, truth be known. This is particularly bad on the first 2 miles between Cedar Breaks Park and Crockett Garden, which is mostly under tree cover.
Starting from the "star" parking lot in Cedar Breaks Park (see GPS track), the trail goes up a gentle but rocky incline and then puts you onto a brief gravel hike-and-bike-style section before dropping precipitously down a steep, ledgy,loose incline into a creek bottom. The old hiking trail went straight up the other side, but the new trail turns right and makes two long switchbacks to get back up to the bluff again. Near Mile 1, the trail opens up with some great views of the lake before descending down an incline toward the shore, following an overgrown singletrack for a bit, and ascending back up (both the ascent and descent are a bit tricky.)
At mile2.5 is Crockett Garden, where bikers are asked to hike their bikes for about100 feet to avoid disturbing the delicate features of the waterfall and the historic relics. Once you're at the top of the log stairs, you can start riding again. Right past Mile 3 comes a creek drop that is borderline advanced. You drop down a steep and rocky incline onto a footbridge, then have to immediately climb up the other side. I found it easier on the way back (west to east) than the way out, although it is trickier to get onto the footbridge from the west-to-east direction because some of the rock has eroded away.
Near Mile4, the trail crosses an outcropping of limestone with an active spring, and the algae around the spring makes it incredibly slick. You are pretty much guaranteed to slide out here. Your only choice is whether to do so in a controlled and recoverable fashion. Between Mile 4 and Cedar Hollow Campground are a couple of creek drops, one of which barely has enough room to transition from down to up at the bottom. This will cause problems for anyone who doesn't have good bike handling skills. After the second creek drop, start looking fora fork in the trail. Take the left fork onto the lollypop loop, which goes up a loose, moderately steep hill and passes a parking area before treating you to the only fast downhill of the entire ride. The lollypop loop rejoins the main trail at another fork. Going left at this second fork takes you to the dead end at Cedar Hollow Campground, but turning right takes you back toward Cedar Breaks Park.
The way back is mostly like the way up, although the creek drop at Mile 0.5 is much more challenging on the way back, since you drop down the gentle switch backs and then climb up the ledgy, loose, steep incline. The worst part of this climb is the part right near the creek. This part is at least a challenging blue, if not a full-on black diamond. After the hardest section, the trail continues to go steadily up and over small ledges and talus for a couple of hundred more yards. Once you're at the gravel, you're home free.