New areas at Enchanted Rock could open as soon as this fall after park more than doubles in size

For many Central Texans, Enchanted Rock is a special and mystical place, and now it’s more than doubled in size.

Rodney Franklin, director for state parks with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, said lots of people have fond memories of hiking to the top of the dome and seeing the view for the first time.

“There’s a lot of generational history,” Franklin said. “Being on top of the granite dome is just really calming and peaceful for a lot of people and it holds a lot of memories.”

Franklin believes that’s why the park is so popular and why people keep coming back.

In September, the Enchanted Rock State Natural Area added 630 acres to its total parkland. This month, the park expanded by 3,073 acres, more than doubling the park’s total land.

Franklin said more people have been going to Texas parks in the last several years than ever before.

“The pandemic had a really positive impact on people wanting to get outdoors … and those numbers are still high because of that,” he said.

TPWD purchased the newly added parkland for $43 million, which came from the Centennial Parks Conservation Fund. In November 2023, Texans passed a measure to create the fund, which designated $1 billion to purchase land to develop and expand state parks. The fund was created to address the state’s population growth, and along with it, the increase in state park visitors.

When the fund was established, many Texas parks near major cities would fill up on weekends and holidays, and park staff would have to turn away visitors. The Nature Conservancy estimates over 250,000 people visit the park each year. Because of its popularity, the park started taking reservations in 2017 and usually reaches capacity every day.

“ It’s just fantastic that they actually have the resources to do this today,” said Jeff Francell, director of land protection with the Nature Conservancy.

Francell said the conservation fund saved the area from potential future development.

“It very likely would have been subdivided and developed,” he said. “And all of those houses would have needed water wells, they would have had lights, they would have had roads.”

The new parkland will likely include trails and campgrounds according to Franklin, and he said park staff is already getting the ball rolling on how to make that available.

“Our goal is to make sure we have public access as soon as we can in some form or another,” he said. “Because we’re starting that process right now.”

The Enchanted Rock natural area opens for the hunting season each year. Franklin said the new land may be ready to be accessed by visors for this year’s hunting season in the fall after they set up utilities and parking.

The planning process for the newly acquired land will also include a round of public feedback on what people would like to see in the park expansion.

This story was produced as part of the Austin Monitor’s reporting partnership with KUT.

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