The city of New Braunfels Parks and Recreation Department, along with the nonprofit organization Comal Trails Alliance, unveiled a new hiking trail through Panther Canyon on Dec. 2.
What’s new
The Rim Trail quickly rises up to a higher elevation through Panther Canyon. The primary Canyon Trail—until now the only other trail that connects through Panther Canyon from Landa Park to Ohio Avenue—is a relatively flat trail.
Volunteers worked on forming the new trail beginning in January 2023, said Austin Buck with the Comal Trails Alliance. Comal Trails Alliance—a nonprofit organization that volunteers time to maintain and advocates for trails and access to them—received a city proclamation establishing the new Rim Trail during the ribbon-cutting.
The new section is about 0.75 miles long and runs at a higher elevation than the relatively flat Canyon Trail. It is considered “moderately strenuous due to elevation changes” according to the city.
Panther Canyon begins near the Comal Springs in Landa Park that feed into the Comal River. Those springs are fed by the Edwards Aquifer and emerge within the Balcones fault zone, according to the city. The trails are open daily from 6 a.m.-midnight and cover nearly 50 acres of shaded hiking across a dry creek bed.
