Blue Hole Regional park undergoing improvements on hiking, biking trail

WIMBERLEY — The hiking and biking trail at Blue Hole Regional Park in Wimberley is undergoing improvements to make it accessible, sustainable and safe for all visitors.

Blue Hole Regional Park — a 126-acre park in Wimberley that offers recreational amenities, including miles of hiking trails — was awarded a $273,900 grant in 2022 from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department for the Regional Hike and Bike Trail Improvement Project. The Wimberley Parks and Recreation Department implemented this project to renovate and resurface the existing one-mile multi-use trail going through the park with an ADA-accessible improved-surface trail. This section is approximately a third of a more than three-mile-long hike and bike trail, with the other two-thirds of the trail owned by Hays County.

The original construction of the trail failed to properly grade slopes greater than 4%. That, combined with decomposed granite laid on top of weed barrier cloth, causes severe washout during heavy rain.

“Because [the gravel] has gotten so loose over time, every time we have rain or storms, it’ll wash out really bad in some areas and so, that wash out eventually ends up in places that it’s not supposed to be, like protected areas in our park or even down to our creek,” said Wimberley Parks and Recreation Department Director Richard Shaver. “We're trying to remove as much of that decomposed granite as we can. So, we're removing the entirety of the trail and replacing it with something that is a lot more sturdy and better for all of us.”
Completing the project will also ensure that the trail stays ADA- accessible and safe for all users, especially for those who may be using wheelchairs or strollers.
The project is also geared to make the trail more sustainable with as minimal maintenance upkeep as possible, while also saving the city of Wimberley funds on new trail material, as well as maintenance staff and volunteers hours of time that can be spent in other areas of the park system.

While Blue Hole was awarded the grant in 2022, Shaver said that the improvements are just now happening because the city had to go through the bid process with selecting contractors, which can be an extensive process.
“That takes a really long time and we really wanted a high quality product result that would last a long time. We had our engineers working on this project for quite a while to make sure the specs were correct. We ended up going with DigDug, which is a contractor in Central Texas, [who] is familiar with the materials that we are going to be using and has experience building these kinds of trails,” Shaver said. “That process, unfortunately, does take a long time. But, you know, what you put in at the beginning of a project, you get afterwards. We are happy to put in all of the work now so that we have a finished project that will last a long time.”

The improvements on the trail at Blue Hole Regional Park began on Thursday, May 23. The work timeframe is 90 days; therefore, sections of the trail will be closed until the end of August.

Shaver ensures the public that the city is not closing off the entirety of the trail, rather the project will be done in sections. He encourages loyal trail users to explore alternative routes.

“Blue Hole has over five miles of hiking trails and this is the most popular trail. We're trying to close it off in sections. You can still access a portion of the trail that'll lead you through maybe parts of the market you haven't visited before,” Shaver said. “You can get very familiar with all of our back trails that are really beautiful and shaded and maybe find a trail that you like even better than the hike and bike.”

For more information about the TPWD grant and the project, visit bit.ly/3Vh3NM9.