Pedernales River Nature Park is open to the public as a free day-use park while the Lower Colorado River Authority decides what to do with the Johnson City property. I’m going to tell only my closest friends about this place. Not everyone will appreciate the beauty of this raw park. The 222-acre tract doesn’t offer much more than Porta-Potties, a few concrete picnic tables shaded by oak trees, and butterflies sampling wildflowers. There is lots of open space to let the dog run and a shaded river bank – a pleasant place for drowning some worms.
Other than a 10-foot-high cement dam that stretches across the river, the park is not unusually scenic. Sorry, swimming is not allowed. Most of the lot is a wide meadow squeezed between the highway and private property and dipping toward the river. One of the park’s best features is that it is lightly trodden.
The LCRA purchased the former Rainbow Ranch Trout Farm in 2008. Since then the river authority has been working on a master plan for developing the park. Until the new recreational facilities are constructed, the river access is free for fishing and picnicking. Maybe they could just leave it like it is.
Pedernales River Nature Park is on the north side of Johnson City where U.S. 281 crosses the river. There are no trash cans.
1,087th in a series. Collect them all. Day Trips, Vol. 2, a book of “Day Trips,” is available for $8.95, plus $3.05 for shipping, handling, and tax. Mail to: Day Trips, PO Box 33284, South Austin, TX 78704.
This article appears in May 25 • 2012.
