LAMPASAS COUNTY, Texas (KXXV) — Texas' newest state park is now open, giving outdoor enthusiasts their first chance to explore more than 3,000 acres of rugged Central Texas landscape along the Colorado River.
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Post Oak Ridge — Texas' 91st state park — is now open for day use, offering the public access to two hiking trails totaling about four miles.
The state acquired about 2,000 acres in Jan. 2025 from the Van Ranch and Smith Ranch families, then added another 1,000 acres two months later. Future plans call for RV sites, primitive camping, more trails and eventually river access.
"It came onto the market and of course, it's across the river from Colorado Bend. So it is in Colorado Bend's view shed. So that was probably the first interest in it," Kacey Sloan said.
Sloan, the park superintendent, says the development ahead is no small undertaking — the equivalent of building a small city within the park's boundaries.
"We're hoping to have those water electric campsites, a headquarters, and a lot of people don't realize what it takes because if it's done well, you'll never see it, but you're building a small city," Sloan said.
The goal is to have those major amenities in place by 2029.
The park is also part of a broader statewide push to make the outdoors more accessible as Texas' population continues to grow — particularly in the region known as the Texas Triangle — fueled in part by a dedicated funding source.
"We are in that, what a lot of people talk about the Texas Triangle. We are in that area, that area in Texas where the population is growing and so we want to make the outdoors more accessible as Texas continues to grow. And so a lot of this is coming from that Centennial Fund. Which was passed in 2023 and so it just set us up in a position to be able to acquire more state parks and to be able to build state parks out," Sloan said.
Park officials say development will continue over the next several years, but they invite Texans to get an early look at what could become one of Central Texas' newest outdoor gems.
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