Hamilton Pool Road's Parks Are About to Get Much Bigger. Here's What Fall Looks Like Out There Now

Travis County already owns roughly 1,975 acres of new parkland near Hwy. 71 and Hamilton Pool Road. None of it is open yet. That includes 1,500 acres of a former family ranch on Reimers-Peacock Road and nearly 475 more acres being added to Milton Reimers Ranch Park. The decisions about what goes on that land are happening right now, and the online survey that feeds them closes Wednesday, Nov. 4.

If you head out Hamilton Pool Road for a ride at Reimers or a guest trip to the grotto, this is the season the corridor's future gets drawn. The parks you can already use run on their own fall rules. The land you can't enter yet is open to your input until Nov. 4.

A Family Retreat Becomes RGK Ranch Park

RGK Ranch Park is a mostly undeveloped 1,500-acre piece of the Kozmetsky Ranch. It sits east of the existing Reimers Ranch Park, near Hwy. 71 and Reimers-Peacock Road. As Community Impact reported, the Kozmetsky family used the land as a private retreat for more than 50 years before Travis County bought it in 2024 for $90 million.

The land came with a large gift attached. A May 2024 announcement from the Scott family says Nadya Scott donated more than $30 million in land value and development rights so the county's $90 million purchase of 1,507 acres could go through. The purchase itself was funded through the 2023 Proposition B parks bond. That 2024 announcement predicted an opening in late 2025. That date has passed, and the Travis County Parks page for Reimers Ranch still lists RGK Ranch as not yet open to the public.

Two parts of the ranch are slated to stay, according to the county's vision-plan site. One is Casa Blanca, a hilltop house with a view. The other is the Memorial Garden. The same site lists backcountry hiking and conservation education as possible uses, and says these are ideas under review, not commitments.

Access is the open question that matters most to anyone driving from Bee Cave. Right now the only way onto the property is from Reimers-Peacock Road. At the county's Oct. 7 open house, opinions were mixed on whether to add an entrance from Hwy. 71. For Spanish Oaks, that choice decides whether RGK feels like a quick run down 71 or a longer trip on back roads.

Reimers Ranch Is Growing, Too

The same survey covers Reimers Ranch. Travis County is adding nearly 475 acres of new parkland southeast of the current Reimers Ranch Park.

Ideas proposed for the expanded Reimers include:

• Hiking trails and scenic overlooks
• River and fishing access
• Night-sky programs
• More mountain biking trails
• Camping
• Conservation programs such as nature and history learning, habitat restoration and wildlife observation

The proposed list for RGK Ranch is longer and leans toward facilities. It includes camping, a restored visitor center, an outdoor adventure course, equine facilities, a nature and science center, hiking trails, scenic overlooks and mountain biking trails. According to Community Impact, mountain biking and hiking access drew support at the open house.

The two parks won't connect any time soon. Linking them is part of the Travis County Parks Comprehensive Plan, but the county would first have to buy the land in between from a willing seller. Community Impact reports that the link probably won't happen while the two parks are being finished, though it could come within the plan's 2026 to 2036 window.

The Timeline, Laid Out

The survey is the step that's open now. Everything after it moves on a slower schedule.

1. Oct. 7, 2026. Travis County held a public open house on both parks.
2. Through Nov. 4, 2026. The online survey is open.
3. Early 2027. Travis County Parks officials present a final vision plan, which will be used to work out how much funding is needed.
4. Within two to five years. A Travis County Parks Foundation volunteer told Community Impact that the improvements will likely be finished in that time frame. This is an estimate, not a scheduled opening date.

The vision plan comes before the funding decision. So whatever the survey shows support for, whether that's a Hwy. 71 entrance, campsites or a quiet backcountry trail network, will shape what the county asks to pay for.

What You Can Actually Use This Fall

While the new acreage waits, the two parks you can visit now work very differently. Here's how they compare according to Travis County Parks as of mid-October 2026.

At Reimers, the road down to the beach is open seven days a week for dropping off people and gear. You can't park at beach level. The county expects to start closing that road again on busy swimming weekends and holidays in late spring 2027, so the easy weekday-and-weekend drop-off is a fall and winter arrangement. The county says the mountain bike trails are open but sometimes close after rain. The Reimers page also posted a trail improvement project that closed parts of the Granite Hiking Trail starting Oct. 14, 2026, expected to take about two weeks. That puts reopening around the end of October, so check the page before you plan a hike there.

At Hamilton Pool, the trail that runs under the overhanging cliff is still closed because rocks have been falling. You can reach the beach, but you can't walk around the pool to the base of the waterfall. Swimming is currently allowed from the beach in a very limited part of the pool, and the county says water access is never guaranteed with a reservation because it depends on bacteria levels and recent rain.

If you have holiday guests coming, timing matters. The Hamilton Pool Preserve page is taking reservations through November 2026, and December dates weren't open yet in mid-October. You can reschedule online until midnight before your reservation. Arrive at least an hour before your period ends, because no one is admitted after the window closes.

For anyone who goes often, Reimers' $80 resident annual permit pays for itself after 16 visits at the $5 day rate. Hamilton Pool's per-visit fees are higher, and there's no annual pass to bring them down.

Reimers-Peacock Road Is Already Changing

RGK Ranch's only current access road is starting to change ahead of the park. On Oct. 12, Pickleball Grove broke ground on four outdoor pickleball courts at 5411 Reimers Peacock Road, with those courts expected to open in mid-to-late December. Community Impact reported that the full facility is planned to include indoor pickleball and padel courts. Nearby on Hwy. 71, Infinite Hitting–Lake Travis opened Oct. 12 at 22111 Hwy. 71, Building 701, in Spicewood, offering batting cages, coaching, camps and clinics.

Those openings are part of why the Hwy. 71 access question matters. Whether RGK's main entrance ends up on 71 or on Reimers-Peacock will decide where park traffic goes on the busiest Saturdays.

The survey link is here, and it stays open through Nov. 4.

The Right Team has been sending clients out Hamilton Pool Road for years, and we keep track of how the corridor around Spanish Oaks is changing, from new parkland to the businesses opening along Reimers-Peacock. If you'd like to talk through what the RGK and Reimers plans could mean for your corner of Bee Cave, or you just want a second opinion on where things stand, reach out to Clare Webb and Schedule a Consultation.