A New Nature Preserve Just Opened Next Door to Jacob's Well — Here's What to Expect
Dripping Social Team · March 26, 2026
If you've been watching the Hill Country slowly get carved up by development, this one's for you.
Hays County officially opens Karst Canyon Preserve on Friday, March 27, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 10 a.m. The 175-acre preserve sits just outside Wimberley, adjacent to Jacob's Well Natural Area — and it came within a vote of becoming a housing development with more than 1,000 residential lots.
What Almost Happened Here
The land was previously known as Coleman's Canyon. In 2019, the Wimberley Valley Watershed Association stepped in and purchased the property, halting the dense residential project that had been planned for the site.
From there, a coalition of organizations worked for years to lock in permanent protection. Hays County finalized its purchase in 2025 using funding from the 2020 Parks and Open Spaces Bond — a measure voters approved at a moment when many were rethinking what they wanted their communities to look like. The Nature Conservancy has since secured a conservation easement, ensuring the land stays wild permanently.
What's There Now
Phase 1 of Karst Canyon Preserve offers approximately 2 miles of trail connecting directly to the North 40 Trail at Jacob's Well Natural Area. The preserve protects some of the region's most remarkable natural features:
- Karst terrain — a landscape of sinkholes, caves, and springs formed by soluble limestone
- A stretch of Dry Cypress Creek
- The well-known Wimberley Bat Cave
- Habitat for the endangered golden-cheeked warbler
The karst geology here is more than scenic. These formations are critical for recharging the Trinity Aquifer — the underground water source that feeds Jacob's Well itself. By protecting the land above these recharge zones, the preserve directly supports the long-term health of one of Central Texas' most beloved natural springs.
Phase 2 will add more than 2 additional miles of trail. A completion date hasn't been set yet.
Why It Matters
Jacob's Well has been closed to swimming since 2022 due to low water flow from ongoing drought. The spring can't simply be turned back on — it depends on healthy, connected land upstream to recharge naturally.
Karst Canyon Preserve protects exactly that: the watershed that feeds the well.
For Dripping Springs residents, this isn't just a Wimberley story. The Hill Country is a shared backyard, and what happens to the land around Jacob's Well affects water, wildlife, and quality of life across the entire region. Every preserved acre in a fast-growing county like Hays is a win that's hard to undo once lost.
How to Visit
Ribbon-cutting: Friday, March 27 at 10 a.m. Park at Parking Lot A at Jacob's Well Natural Area (1699 Mt. Sharp Road, Wimberley). From there, hike 0.8 miles round-trip to the ceremony site or ride with park staff by golf cart.
After the ceremony, the preserve opens to the public for day-use hiking. Check hayscountytx.gov for current hours and updates as the trail system expands in Phase 2.
This is the kind of project that takes years to pull off and seconds to lose. Someone bought the land before the bulldozers arrived. Voters funded the bonds. Nonprofits secured the easements. Volunteers cut the trails. The Hill Country got a little bigger — and a little safer.