Review Date
June 22, 2008

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 4 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 5 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Ridden Once

Reviewed by: MntBkr ,  Weekend Warrior

Summary:
This is a true mountain biking trail!! I loved this ride more than any of the other trails that I rode in the local San Antonio area (OP Schnabel, McAllister Park, John Adams Park). Do not take the "there are lots of rocks" lightly, this is a recommended full-suspension ride and I would of LOVED to ride it on a 29er. You are riding up rocks, down rocks and falling on rocks about 75% of the time. Call me a glutton for pain, but it is the technical aspect of navigating up stairsteps and riding down them at full-speed that got me going. Highly recommended for the technical rider and not for the first-timer (I rode only the back country trails).

Recommended Route:
I rode up Joe Johnston, Caroline's Loop (counter clockwise), Sendero Balcones, Far Reaches (beautiful overlook here) to Relief Trail (this trail means just that, pretty flat jeep trail with little technical sections).

Other recommended trails in the same area:
OP Schnabel

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Review Date
January 7, 2008

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 5 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 4 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Every few months

Reviewed by: pangster ,  Cross Country Rider

Summary:
Rocky technical trail with lots of climbing and decents. The trail is well marked and you can get a great map from the park office. There's a mixture of single track and jeep trails. I do not recommend riding a hard tail here. Cuz it's rocks rocks and more rocks.

Recommended Route:
Stay in the back country for where all the fun is. The front country's nice and easy if that's what you prefer. I don't like Joe Johnston because it's a large jeep trail with tons of hikers. I have to admit the spanish moss section of johnston route is cool and a good place to take a break. But I ride mostly single track and the hikers stay away from the single track mostly. I like Caroline's Loop, Wildcat Canyon, and Sendero Balcones. Lots of technical climging because of the rocks and you'll fly down the hills.

Other recommended trails in the same area:
OP, mac, and flat rock

Review Date
September 25, 2007

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 4 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 4 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Every few months

Reviewed by: jumper780 ,  Weekend Warrior

Summary:
Rocks Rocks is right. It is a beautiful nature preserve park hidden off of 1604. I had to use my GPS to find it. Once in, the park is very well kept and park rangers are very friendly and excited about visitors using their trails. The markings on the trails are great. About every mile or so (sometimes 1/4) there are painted wooden posts with a number and name of the trail you are on. The trail we hit was so dang rocky, that I had to walk many parts of it if you lost any momentum. My cheap Rockshox Judy J2s took a beating! On one downhill part, you bottom out in a dried out riverbed made of limestone. I bottomed my J2 and flipped into the rockbed head first(which is why I replaced with Revolution Rockshox). OUCH!! I only had enough time to ride two trails out of the 8-10. My partner went through his camel back and was cramping at the end of Balcones heights. Some trails you have to pick up your bike walk through waist to chest deep clear green water.
I will definately ride again. I can't wait.

Recommended Route:
Balcones Heights!

Review Date
June 10, 2007

Overall Rating
 3 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 3 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 3 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Every few months

Reviewed by: font9a ,  Cross Country Rider

Summary:
Rocks, rocks, and more rocks. Not much shade, as the foliage has been pruned away from the trail. You'll feel like you did more miles than actually rode :-)

One of the best ascents in the Austin/San Antonio area is the Sendero Bandera trail. It's 3.5 miles of mostly climbing on nice fully ridable natural limestone ledges. It's one of the longest sustained ascents in central texas that I know of, and it has many techincal sections that require finesse and muckle. Nothing too hard like City Park or Climbing that 40 stair staircase on the UT campus -- but it'a all natural and embedded, not loose.

What disappoints my about this park in general is that it's never been totally designed for MTB use... most of the rocks point the wrong way, there are no "clean lines" there really isn't much flow. All the downhill sections tend to be loose limestone scree that really isn't that steep, so it's not challenging, just annoying.

I can imagine Sendero being a very nice descent with all the little ledges -- but it was a great climb.

When I did this trail a few years ago on my hardtail I couldn't feel anything in my body after the end of the ride, and had to walk a lot of the sections... embarassing.

I did it yesterday on my new Maverick Durance with 6" travel front and rear and the trail is a different story. 6" is like cheating on a mountain bike, but you'll need it if you want to do a long ride here. There are just too many rocks to make it "pleasant".

This park has a lot of possibilities, especially if MTB work crews worked on it for a couple of years and followed some ethical policy of terrain augmentation... but I digress. Right now it's take the rocks and pain, or go somewhere else to ride.

Recommended Route:
I did: Sendero --> Wildcat Canyon --> Joe Johnston --> Carolines Loop --> Joe Johnston to the pavilion. 11.9 miles in 1.5 hours.

Other recommended trails in the same area:
OP Schnable, MacAllister Park, Muleshoe Bend, City Park, Warda, Rocky Hill, lots of secret singletrack in Kerrville and environs.

Review Date
November 24, 2006

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 3 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 3 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Ridden Once

Reviewed by: cannonballtrail ,  Racer

Summary:
I was visiting Texas hill country and was disappointed with some of the riding. I was not expecting epic NM, AZ,CO, or New England style riding, but I really was surprised and had a blast rolling through the limestone rock gardens at this park. The perfect balance between technical, speed, and rideability with sections of fun downhills, climbs, through the trees and hardpack fast sections made this ride a lot of fun. It felt like a fusion of east coast meets west coast riding and the terrain, climate, topography, and plant life was very unique. Still all and all even after riding all of the trails in 80 degree weather at 1pm at 75% max HR, I still had quite a bit of energy for yet more riding, but unfortantly the ride was over. In the 2 hrs of riding (maybe less if you know where you are going and do not have to check the map at every intersection) I only managed 1500 ft of elevation gain. The trails are very well marked and clean without glass, bullet casings, or other junk. I really enjoyed my ride and hope to ride this loop again some day!

Recommended Route:
Recharge Trail to Sandero Balcones to Carolines Loop to Joe Johnson to windmill to Sandero Balcones to twin oaks to Joe Johnson to wildcat canyon to far reaches to recharge trail and back to the car.