Great weekend hike

Comments: I started out from Cedar Breaks and camped near Sawyer, then the next day finished the hike at Russell. The southern part of the trail is MUCH better. By that I mean it is more of a trail. Basically after mile 9 you are on caliche road the rest of the way. It would almost be better IMO to yoyo between cedar breaks to Tejas, although around Russell it is quite nice. After mile 9 I have no idea where the "real" trail was. It was pretty poorly marked and I no doubt missed a turn somewhere. Not a big deal because the roads and fences kind of tell you where to go. I have no idea where Marker 10 is and if you look at the map on this page closer you won''t see it there either ;) Mile marker 15 is almost as elusive and that little side loop from the road was very poorly marked. I really liked the southern portion. I gave the difficulty in the midrange just b/c of length. The terrain is real easy with only a few inclines. I had overcast both days, so the heat of summer would make the northern portion a bit more difficult (there isn''t much shade). The solitude is also midrange. There is plenty of time of being alone but if the lake is active, there is plenty of motor boats and seadoos cranking up the noise as well as the hootin and hollerin. Toward Tejas as the lake narrows to a stream, there are lots of fisherman. I only saw about 6 or 7 sets of hikers over two days and 1 set of cyclists. The northern part is open to bikes. All in all it is a nice hike so close to Austin for the length and the opportunity to backpack.