Katie's Outdoor Adventures: Backpacking Lake Georgetown

This weekend Emily and I led a backpacking trip on 16.5 miles of the Goodwater Loop of the San Gabriel River Trail.

Goodwater Trail map, Austin Explorer description, download all photos

We had asked the participants to arrive between 3pm and 3:30pm, with the goal of leaving at 4pm. Hence, I arrived at the Outdoor Center at 2pm to repackage and split up gear with Emily. It was like a guide school reunion in the outdoor center! I saw and talked to Chris, Sean, Tommy, Tessa, Hannah, Manuel, Ellie, and probably more - truly great to see everyone! We prepped everything, including cutting up all the veggies and cheese to avoid taking cutting boards and knives and preparing little bags of snacks (granola bars and fruit gummies) that everyone could eat whenever they felt like it. We put some tent parts in each of the gear piles so that groups could then evenly split up tents between their occupants after the first night. I opted for one of the heavy piles with a rainfly, ground cover, dromedary bag (6L / 14lb), oatmeal, and water filter.

We originally had 10 participants, but one girl did not show up and when Emily called her she said she decided not to go, so we ended up only having 9 participants. This required Emily and I, as well as two other participants, to share what the girl who cancelled should have carried.

We left campus around 4pm on Friday and made it to the Russell Park trailhead around 5:15pm. We left the participants to eat their dinners in the campground near the trailhead while Emily and I drove a shuttle car to the Cedar Breaks trailhead.

Once back at Russell Park, we waited for the participants to return from eating their dinner and then we hit the trail. It was a quick 1.5 mile hike to Walnut Spring Camp. My pack was pretty heavy, which was not a problem for the short, flat hike - but made me realize just how rough Saturday might be.

Once at camp, I picked a site (there were 3-4 to choose from) and then did a tent set-up demo with Emily. I wanted to incorporate this because (1) you can show the participants how to set up a tent, which decreases frustration and makes them capable of setting-up and taking-down their own tents and (2) you can give a quick LNT talk on picking appropriate camp sites. Emily and I took the tent from the demo, and set-up our sleeping pads and bags in our tent while the participants set up their tents. Then we started some water boiling for tea/coffee/ect and got out the snacks allocated for Friday night (pre-cut cheese, crackers, jerky). Then Emily gave her '6 Ds of Dumping' talk for how to appropriately poop in the backcountry.

Everyone opted to retire to their tents around 9:30pm, mainly for warmth. The plan was for Emily and I to wake at 7am and then for us to wake everyone else at 7:30am after heating up some water. I awoke at 6:30am to gunshots, presumably from nearby hunters. Our trail ventured into some hunting area, and we were camping near the hunting area. I wanted to nestle deeper into my sleeping bag, but I heard many of the participants up and about, so I decided to get up and help Emily get water started. I learned on this trip that the idea is to get out of your tent ASAP and start water and then go back to your tent and prepare for the day while it is heating up. Unfortunately for us, Emily had connected a gas tank to a stove with a broken connector, so the stove would not connect but would also not disconnect - and was spilling gas and fumes everywhere as we tried to disconnect it. To make matters worse, the gas spilling everywhere was extremely cold. Emily finally took it far away and broke it apart completely in order to stop the spillage.

For breakfast we had oatmeal with dried fruit and brown sugar. We bought (and thought we packed) enough oatmeal for everyone to have two packets each morning. However, it became obvious quickly that we had much less oatmeal than we had planned. At the end of breakfast we only had 6 packets left!

At 7:40am we decided to aim to leave camp at 9am. We packed up camp and then I went down to the lake to explore while the participants finished packing their tents and personal gear. The lake was pretty cool in the morning with fog rising from the lake and all of the dead trees sticking out of the lake.

After stretching, we hit the trail around 9am. We had an easy 4.5 mile hike from Walnut Spring camp to Tejas camp, where we ate lunch. The morning hike was relatively flat, following a jeep trail for at least 2 miles. There were splits in the trail that were only sometimes marked - I generally followed Manuel's advice to stay on the trail closer to the lake unless a clear making indicated otherwise. We reached Tejas camp around 11:15am, and we stopped at a campsite to relax a bit and eat lunch. There were also trash cans to dump trash in and a water spigot to refill our personal water containers and dromedary bags. I usually hate camping lunches, but this one was actually okay: tortillas with hummus, salmon, and dried tomatoes.

After lunch I had a bit of trouble finding the trailhead, but eventually found it. My pack was indeed heavy, and as the terrain got rockier and hillier, I really started struggling. The 6.5 mile hike from Tejas camp to Cedar Hollow camp felt so long. Some of the hills were rather steep and muddy - which is hard normally, but becomes almost impossible when you have a heavy pack. I'm guessing mine was around 55-60 pounds. The entire group seemed quiet after lunch, and I resorted to imagining songs in my head and counting repeatedly just to get my mind off of the weight. I really wanted music. I internally wanted to stop for so many breaks, but limited myself to just a few. We stopped for a long break with about 2.5 miles left before Cedar Hollow, which felt great. But we climbed a hill shortly after the break and I internally really wanted another break. And of course, all I could think during the hike was how hard Guadalupe Mountains will be. Determination, stubbornness, and mental toughness really are important when guiding - you need them to push through the challenging times.

When we reached camp, everyone was pretty tired. But Emily and I pushed onward and got our tent set-up before she napped and I wandered down to the lake to sit and relax for about 30 minutes. The lake was really pretty, and it was peaceful to just relax and reflect for a bit. Then it was time to head back to camp and get my ramen dinner started. I had forgotten the bag of spices I had prepared back in the Outdoor Center, so we opted to use the spices that came with the ramen. We added some carrots and celery to the boiling water with the ramen, and it turned out great. We cooked 11 packets, so everyone was able to eat about a packet of ramen each. We also had cashews for a topping, which I think made the meal. I was happy with how the meal turned out, and think it is a good backpacking meal.

After dinner we boiled some water for tea and then sat talking for a while. After most of the group decided to get up to watch the sunrise, Emily and I opted to retreat to our tent at 8pm. Everyone else seemed to do the same around 8:30pm.

I slept nicely, only waking up a few times. I was not thrilled when my alarm went off at 6am, and decided to reset it for 6:30am after looking outside my tent. However, as the sky grew lighter, I decided to go ahead and get up. It was pretty cold, but the fog on the lake was pretty. I waited for the sunrise until about 7am, before deciding to go boil water and start making breakfast. In the end, the sunrise did not seem to end up being that pretty because it rose behind a peninsula.

Since we only had six packets of oatmeal left, Ben, Emily and I split a packet of ramen and someone else had a tortilla with peanut butter and tuna (yuck?). Then we packed up camp, stretched, and left camp around 9am. I ended up carrying the trash bag, but my bag was so light with an empty dromedary bag that I really did not care. It's amazing how much difference the dromedary bag makes!

Our Sunday hike was just 4.5 miles. We took a few short scenic breaks, and stopped at Crockett Gardens to see the weeping rock. Then we hiked onward along a cliff-side trail with pretty views of the lake for the remainder of our trip until we neared Cedar Breaks park. Once back at the parking lot, Emily and I drove to get the other Suburban while the participants headed to the boat dock to eat lunch. After lunch, it was just a short 40 minute drive back to campus.

Once back at the Outdoor Center, everyone returned their group gear, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, and backpacks. We said goodbye to everyone, and then hung the tents, ground cloths, and rain covers to dry, hung the sleeping bags to dry, did the dishes, disinfected the sleeping pads, and essentially got everything that we could ready to be rented/used again.

All in all, it was a great trip. I have been really stressed with paper deadlines, so this was a perfect escape. I also enjoyed working with Emily, and our group was good (although quiet). We planned out our gear and food much better than on the Lost Maples trip - we took very little gear that we did not use, and we had very little food remaining at the end of the trip.

All of the girls, and some of the guys, on the trip began mentioning that their hips were sore at some point. Some of the girl's hips seemed sore to the touch even. But my hips felt fine. I wonder why I was somehow exempt from hip pain (despite my backpack certainly being one of the heavier ones due to the dromedary bag). Perhaps my backpack fit better? Or my hiking poles helped? Or I have more fat?

After a great weekend, it is time to focus on finishing up conference papers for the next week. And it is exciting and encouraging that we leave for our Guadalupe Mountains backpacking trip in about 2.5 weeks! I'm so incredibly excited!

Take-away points:

Ramen is a good backpacking meal. Cooked carrots and celery worked well, as did the cashew toppings. The included flavor packets were fine.
Tortillas with peanut butter and/or hummus work well. Meat (chicken/tuna/salmon) work well but is somewhat smelly. I wonder if there is a better option for meat? Perhaps tofu?
I still need to find a good balance between making good time and stopping for breaks when leading. And why is it that when I stop for a scenic break, a better view always happens to be further ahead?