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    "headline": "Vann family ranch settled in 1889 is now Texas’s Post Oak Ridge State Park, open for day hikes",
    "description": "Texas bought the 3,118-acre Colorado River property from Vann descendants starting in January 2025 and opened trails on September 24, 2026; entry is $2, reservations required, and there is no water on site.",
    "datePublished": "2026-11-04T04:40:14+00:00",
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    "articleSection": "History",
    "keywords": "Colorado River, hidden history, Post Oak Ridge State Park, Texas Hill Country, Texas state parks",
    "articleBody": "A stretch of Texas Hill Country ranchland that John Fletcher Vann and Mattie Lou Vann settled in 1889 opened to the public on September 24 as Post Oak Ridge State Park, a 3,118-acre reserve on the Colorado River northwest of Austin. The Vanns raised seven children on the property. According to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), later generations of the family ranched the land, cut cedar on it and ran a fish camp on the river that drew anglers for years. The park’s single river-access point still sits beside that historic fish camp. From one family to the state TPWD began buying the land in January 2025, purchasing two tracts from Vann descendants. Park superintendent Kacey Sloan has described the project as fast-tracked: a new Texas state park can take about a decade to develop, but the money here comes from the Centennial Parks Conservation Fund, which voters approved by constitutional amendment in 2023, the centenary of the state’s parks board. The timeline is public. Phase one, the first 12 months after the purchase, covered drawn hunts and guided hikes. Phase two, due within 18 months, meant trails, parking and restrooms for day visitors. Phase three aims to have roads, utilities and full facilities running within 48 months. Day use arrived in September 2026, roughly 20 months after the first purchase, and overnight access is scheduled for 2029. What visitors get right now The gate is four miles down County Road 105 from the hamlet of Naruna, west of Lampasas, and the park sits diagonally across the Colorado River from Colorado Bend State Park. There is no headquarters on site. Reservations are mandatory, and the confirmation email carries the gate code. Entry costs $2 a day for anyone 13 or older; children 12 and under enter free. Hours run 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday through Sunday. Past the gate, 2.5 miles of gravel road lead to a parking area with a restroom and a picnic spot shaded by post oaks. From there, hikers choose between two out-and-back routes on rolling, rocky terrain with several overlooks of the river and the cliffs on the private ranch opposite. Sloan has said the overlook walk is about five miles round trip, and the shorter trail a little over three miles. The agency’s warnings are plain. Bring your own water, because none is available in the park. Expect little or no cell signal. There is no electricity. Construction continues inside the gates, so watch for work areas. Address: 4146 CR 105, Lampasas, TX 76550 Size: 3,118 acres, mostly in Burnet County with part in Lampasas County Trails open: roughly 4 miles so far; TPWD hopes to build about 20 miles eventually, including a wheelchair-accessible path Why the ridge matters The park takes its name from an uncommon stand of post oaks along its ridgeline; surveyors told Sloan some of the trees may be 400 years old. A spring-fed waterway called Yancey Creek runs through oak savanna, and an early wildlife inventory logged Rio Grande leopard frogs, collared lizards, cottonmouths and Texas tetras. Deer, turkey, quail, aoudad and roadrunners share the ground. Sloan, who grew up on a ranch in neighboring San Saba County, worked at Pedernales Falls and Inks Lake before taking this post, and says both parks turned people away every weekend. “The park is rugged and primitive, with a unique sound environment,” she said when the gates opened. “There aren’t human made sounds.” The next milestone is bigger than a trailhead: TPWD’s own clock puts full facilities at the 48-month mark, which falls in early 2029. Further reading Texas Parks and Wildlife: Post Oak Ridge State Park TPWD news release: Post Oak Ridge State Park Opens for Day Use Wikipedia: Post Oak Ridge State Park Image: Larry D. Moore, CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by our Editorial Desk. How we work.",
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