Canyon Lake is clear Hill Country water with a bathtub ring showing. The reservoir sits on the Guadalupe River, deep and limestone-edged, built for flood control and water supply, famous enough for boats, ramps, and summer crowd pressure. But on June 10, 2026, the lake sits around 59 percent full and more than 22 feet below conservation pool, bright water and hard shoreline sharing the same view. The strangest part is below the spillway. In 2002, floodwater went over the spillway for the first time and cut open a gorge in days, exposing Cretaceous limestone, fossils, dinosaur tracks, old sea ripples, and aquifer seeps. Below the dam, the Guadalupe becomes another managed surprise: a trout river in Texas, cold water threaded through tubing country. The lake keeps its contradictions in the open, from dry ramp edges to ancient stone to cold release water moving under a hot-county crowd.
curator · lake-level · as of Sep 3, 2026
The facts
- Surface area 33.4 km² usgs-3dhp · lake-level · as of Jun 2, 2026
- Nearest town Canyon Lake · 2.6 km osm-overpass · lake-level · as of Jun 2, 2026
- Bird species (within 25 mi) 221 ebird-api-v2 · lake-level · as of Jun 2, 2026
- Bird diversity index 0.94 ebird-api-v2 · lake-level · as of Jun 2, 2026
- Median home value $351,057 census-acs-2024-b25077 · block-group-level · as of Jun 2, 2026
- Water clarity Moderate sentinel-2-l2a · lake-level · as of Sep 3, 2026
- Night sky Dark skies viirs-black-marble-vnp46a4 · lake-level · as of Sep 3, 2026
- Surroundings Near-metro — a city within easy reach curator · lake-level · as of Sep 3, 2026
- Water origin Reservoir curator · lake-level · as of Sep 3, 2026
In more detail
- Climate
- mild winters (~52°F mean), hot summers (~83°F); ~37 in precip/yr curator · lake-level · as of Sep 3, 2026
- Public access
- Canyon Lake is a USACE reservoir (Guadalupe River) with extensive public access: USACE operates seven shoreline parks and Comal County/WORD operates additional parks (e.g. Comal Park, Canyon Park) with boat ramps, swim beaches, picnic areas and bank fishing; TPWD lists roughly 15 named ramps and local sources put the shoreline total near 23. A multi-year drought has cut the lake to ~61% full as of July 2026, and most motorized-boat ramps are currently closed (only 3 of ~23 open to motorized boats as of July 8, 2026), though kayaks/non-motorized craft can still launch from several county ramps. Fees/permits: Entrance/ramp fees vary by facility, roughly $5-$30 (e.g. Comal Park $5 Comal-County-registered / $20 non-county; other USACE and county ramps $5-$30 per TPWD and local reporting). All boaters need a valid TPWD boating permit.. Sources: tpwd.texas.gov (fetched 2026-07-12); mycanyonlake.com (fetched 2026-07-12); wordcc.com (fetched 2026-07-12); waterdatafortexas.org (search-extraction 2026-07-12). curated-web-harvest · lake-level · as of Jul 12, 2026
- Dogs and pets
- high — 13 dog parks within 25 mi (OSM); state rule: Texas State Parks require pets to be kept on a leash no longer than 6 feet at all times; pets are prohibited in designated swimming areas and in all park buildings. No off-leash areas are provided for in the general statewide rules. (Texas Parks & Wildlife Department – State Parks Rules, fetched 2026-07-12); Comal Park (WORD) rules state: "No free-roaming pets. Pets are welcome but must be leashed at all times." No explicit swim-beach pet ban is stated on this page, unlike the general TPWD state-park rule. (wordcc.com, fetched 2026-07-12); Federal rule 36 CFR 327.11 (Control of Animals), which governs USACE's Canyon Lake parks (Rebecca Creek, Potters Creek, Cranes Mill, Tom Creek, Jacob's Creek, Turkey Cove, Skyline/Canyon Dam), requires pets be penned/caged/leashed (leash under 6 ft) and bans them from swimming beaches, playgrounds, and sanitary facilities except service animals. (law.cornell.edu, fetched 2026-07-12) curated-web-harvest · lake-level · as of Jul 12, 2026
- Property tax
- 1.13% ACS effective-rate proxy (2024 ACS 5-year; Comal County anchor: $4,833 median real-estate taxes paid ÷ $427,200 median owner-occupied home value; Texas proxy 1.49%, -0.36 percentage points). census-acs-2024-property-tax · county-level · as of Dec 31, 2024
Where it’s heading
Rising hand-rated for v0.1 · lake-level · as of Sep 3, 2026
Rising: Comal County grew +27.8% 2020-2025 (repeatedly ranked among the nation's fastest-growing counties) off the I-35 San Antonio-Austin corridor — documented in-migration and near-metro development pressure, not merely a price level. (The drought-driven low lake level is a hydrology signal, not the place trajectory.)