Field Trip: Jim Rodgers Trail Walk, Sunday, Nov 30, 2025

— by Vicky Husband

Sign for hiking trail
Trailhead in Southwest Williamson County Regional Park. Photo by Greg Donica.

Join us for our annual Sunday after Thanksgiving field trip!  We have chosen an easy hike on a 1.84 mile mulched trail loop named after Jim Rodgers, Williamson County’s first parks director. Along the trail we will use multiple interpretive signs for native plants sponsored by our chapter. 

Meet at the trailhead parking lot at 1:30pm, on your left just past the first traffic circle.  We will head out by 1:45pm.  Rain or shine!

Restrooms are provided in multiple locations throughout the park.  Bring water, bug spray if desired, and dress for the weather. 

Open to all, including non-members, visitors, and all ages. Well-behaved pets are also welcome!


About Jim Rodgers, from a Williamson County Parks Department 15th anniversary news article, March 2018:

Williamson County’s first parks director, Jim Rodgers, wanted to “distinguish the (newly created) Williamson County Parks Department by focusing on larger, regional parks that provided children with an opportunity to be out in nature, even if they were just a few blocks or miles from their home. Rodgers’ vision was for county parks to model state parks with large open spaces and natural settings. City parks already provided structured recreational parks and sports fields. The desire was to complement and not overlap.”

Questions about the trip? Please contact the Field Trip Committee (contact form here).

Field Trip: Jim Rodgers Hiking Trail, May 29, 2022 at 6:00PM

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Where: Jim Rodgers Hiking Trail in Southwest Williamson County Regional Park  in Leander.  (Google map)
When: Sunday, May 29, 2022 at 6:00PM

Join us for a leisurely walk along this relatively flat, mulched, 1.7-mile trail and see some of our chapter’s interpretive plant signs. (Read the related blog post here.) Habitat includes oak/cedar/mesquite woods and grass fields. Restrooms available.  All ages welcome!  Our field trips are free and open to the public.

Directions to the park and where to meet: From IH-35, take Exit 256 (RM 1431, University Blvd), go west on RM 1431 for about four miles, and then turn right and go north on CR 175 for about one mile. At the next traffic light, the park entrance will be on the right. Meet at the gravel parking lot on the left just past the traffic circle (next to the disc golf course).

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New Plant Signs at Jim Rodgers Hiking Trail

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— by Kathy McCormack

The Native Plant Society of Texas (NPSOT) Williamson County chapter recently worked with the Williamson County Parks & Recreation Department to install nine new interpretive plant signs along the eastern half of the Jim Rodgers Hiking Trail in Southwest Williamson County Regional Park. Six signs were previously installed along the western half of the trail. Maps for these signs can be found at the bottom of our chapter’s Interpretive Plant Signs webpage.

There is ample parking for this relatively flat, mulched, 1.7-mile trail (plus an additional 0.5-mile walk along the park road back to your vehicle). You can check out the new signs any time on your own, or join us on May 29, 2022 at 6:00pm for an evening field trip on this trail. (See this field trip announcement.)

sign identifying a native plant
Honey Mesquite, Prosopis glandulosa. Photo by Nancy Pumphrey.

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