Dahlstrom Preserve opens a working ranch on Onion Creek to the public

The Dahlstrom family ranches 2,254 acres along Onion Creek. A 384-acre piece is open to the public as Gay Ruby Dahlstrom Nature Preserve through a limited lease between the family and Hays County. It is eastern Hays County ranchland you can actually walk.

The preserve has a little over three miles of unimproved hiking trail, plus a three-quarter-mile asphalt ADA-accessible trail. The land sits in the Barton Springs recharge zone. Rain entering caves and fractures here can show up at Barton Springs in Austin within days.

Access takes a reservation through Hays County Parks and is not daily. Bring water and a hat; this is open prairie-and-creek country, not shaded forest.