Day Trip to Government Canyon State Natural Area

On Saturday, we drove to Government Canyon State Natural Area in San Antonio for the Pioneer Christmas event.  The kids got to make advent wreaths and wooden toys.  They learned all about different traditions like the yule log, mistletoe, and candy canes.  Afterwards we had a picnic and went on a 4.35 mile hike on Lytle's Trail.  GCSNA only allows camping on Friday and Saturday nights.  There are no showers, but the bathrooms are nice and new.  There are lots of trails including backpacking trails through the canyon.  This is a mountain biking and hiking park.  We found two caches on our hike and did a lot of tree climbing.  The park has been doing quite a bit of controlled burns, so some of the hiking trails went through areas that had been recently burned.  It wasn't as pretty, but it was a great opportunity for the kids to see the burned trees up close.