Travis County, TX Outdoor Cooking: Smoker Rules (2026)

018 splits outdoor cooking into what's permitted and what's prohibited. Ordinarily, cooking is allowed in camp stoves, grills, and fireplaces, and ground fires are allowed in areas the park designates for them, as long as they're kept safe and controlled at all times. That default flips during a hazardous-conditions declaration by Travis County Parks staff: unless the notice says otherwise, only propane stoves or charcoal may be used, no wood or open ground fires. During an actual County burn ban, cooking fires of any kind are banned outright, and a visitor who ignites one faces immediate confiscation of any park permit, eviction from the park, and a criminal trespass warning under Sec.

010. Three specific preserves carry a blanket ban regardless of conditions: Hamilton Pool Preserve, Pogue Springs, and Wild Basin Preserve allow no fires, stoves, or cooking of any kind, at any time. Outside those three preserves, ground fires are restricted to designated fire rings or grills; an open ground fire outside a ring or grill is prohibited even absent a burn ban. Whatever method is used, all fires and any ignited materials must be fully extinguished before the visitor leaves the site. This is a park-conduct rule, not a fire-code storage or clearance requirement: it governs where and how you may cook or burn while inside a Travis County park, and it applies only within park boundaries, not to backyard cooking on private property in unincorporated Travis County.