Texas RV Travel : Discover Texas

Spring-Fed Swimming Holes

Texas has many spring-fed pools, rivers and swimming holes. Most of the springs are on private property and are undeveloped. Some spring-fed swimming holes have been preserved as parkland.

Jacobs Well

Jacob’s Well, an artesian spring that flows out of one of the deepest underwater caves in Texas. Visit the new park to learn about famous floods and scuba divers, learn the value of native grasses, and experience the stunning beauty of the spring and surrounding area.

Photograph courtesy of WVWA

Jacob's Well is a hidden treasure of Central Texas, located in the Wimberley area. Jacob’s Well flows from the Trinity Aquifer through the second-longest underwater cave system in Texas. The flow sustains Cypress Creek, which, in turn feeds the Blanco River. Waters from Jacob’s Well feeds the famous Blue Hole and recharges the Edwards Aquifer downstream.

Tours of the Jacob’s Well Natural Area are every Saturday at 10 am. The Jacob’s Well Natural Area education center is located off of Jacob’s Well Road at 221 Woodacre Drive. For more information call (512) 722-3390. The website at http://www.jacobswellspring.org/ is not completed yet. Take a virtual tour and learn more about this unique water feature here.

Blue Hole

Summer to me has always included a trip to Blue Hole, one of my favorite swimming holes. Cypress Creek is spring-fed and lined with towering Cypress trees. There is always at least one rope swing in action! Surrounding the swimming hole are 126 acres of natural forests and native grass fields that have remained untouched for decades. Blue Hole is located in the Village of Wimberley.

Here is a link to the map to Blue Hole.

Blue Hole is at the center of a multi-million capital campaign to develop 126 acres of parkland in the heart of the Wimberley Valley. Dreams of acquiring Blue Hole became a reality in May 2005 when the Village of Wimberley purchased the land for restoration and development into a Regional Park. The pool is open during the summer only.

Krause Springs

Krause Springs, is a family-owned park located 35 miles from Austin in Spicewood, Texas. Situated on a high bluff, the Krause home and parking area overlook the spring-fed pool and Cypress Creek.

A rock-lined path leads you from the parking area to the namesake springs. Krause Springs is actually 32 springs. The two main springs flow at 70 gallons per minute. They feed the 70 by 20 foot free-flowing pool, and continue over the side of the cliff in a glistening arc. Jump into the free-flowing pool with perfectly clean, non-chlorinated, 70-degree water and you will be Texas refreshed.

From the house and pool area, the road passes the restrooms and hookups for recreational vehicles and ends at the tent camping area, a meadow bordered by trees above Cypress Creek. You may want to setup camp, fish or explore the camping area. Hikers are welcome to explore the trails on the property, just remember to respect fence lines.

Fisher folk, canoers and kayakers may enter the water at the LCRA Park at the end of Spur 191 and motor or paddle to the campground. For reference, as the crow flies, Lake Travis is less than one mile away. This is a waterway for small fishing boats and paddlers only.

Meanwhile, back at the pool, those individuals hardy enough to venture down the staircase to the creek (not wheelchair accessible) will enter one of the sacred places of the natural world.

Hike along the trail that winds around 100 year old trees, cuts past limestone overhangs that were used in Paleo-Indian times, to end at a gigantic lone Cypress tree, complete with rope swing, growing from the cliff side.

Krause Springs, Spicewood, Texas

Look up and you will see the cascade from the pool pouring over the 20-foot cliff which is covered with ferns, elephant ears and other water-loving plants. Shade-dappled rocks jut from the deeper pool below the waterfall, partially blocking the entrance to a small grotto and providing a perfect place to sit and let the world go by. Swim or wade across the creek to the limestone slab and rock area under the trees or float down the creek for a while.

At the end of the day, climb back up the stairway, jump into to the free-flowing pool to refresh yourself, and then walk to your RV or tent to change, eat and watch the sun set over the Texas Hill Country. You have just enjoyed a perfect day at Krause Springs, a little bit of paradise in Spicewood, Texas.

Directions to Paradise

Head west from Oak Hill on Hwy 71, crossing the Pedernales River and continue for seven more miles. At the town of Spicewood, turn right on Spur 191. Go one mile, cross the Little Creek Bridge, and turn right on County Road 404. Drive through the shallow creek crossing, in less than a mile, you will see the entrance on the left.

Map from Oak Hill (Austin) and Hwy 71.

Close-up map of road from Spicewood to Krause Springs.

For more information or to make camping reservations, call the Krause family at 830/693-4181.

San Marcos Springs and River

The theme park, Aquarena Springs, home to both Ralph the Swimming Pig and the underwater Mermaid show, was purchased by Texas State University. It is now home to the Texas River Center. There is an aquarium, exhibits, gift shop and glass bottom boat rides.

The headwaters of the San Marcos River are the hundreds of fresh water springs at Aquarena Center. Take a glass bottom boat tour to see the springs in and to discover the unique plant and animal species that live only in the San Marcos River, like Texas Wild Rice and the San Marcos Salamander.

Swimming at Spring Lake in Aquarena Center is not allowed. The fragile ecosystem is being studied through scientific diving and ongoing archaeological projects. Artifacts found at the site date human habitation at the springs from about 11,000 years ago.

From Spring Lake, the San Marcos River flows over a dam with two spillways, one of which passes beneath an outdoor deck at an area restaurant, and the other by University-owned Spring Lake Apartments.

Swimming here is permitted, however, stay off the dam. Countless souls have made their way to heaven by not heeding the posted warnings. There are giant Cypress Trees lining the bank and a gravel bar that is perfect for animals and children before the river sweeps under the bridge to enter Sewell Park.

With trees, volleyball courts, shaped concrete walls and ladders, university-owned Sewell park in the middle of town is always busy. The largest patch of Texas Wild Rice is found at this park, apparently not bothered by the thousands of feet that trample it each season. The river is very swift and dangerous through this area and children should be watched carefully.

From Sewell Park, the river widens and deepens, as it meanders to the public City Park. At City Park, you may rent tubes and buy river shuttle tickets from the Lion's Club. Jump in the river for a lazy 30-45 minute float to the new Rio Vista Falls where you may catch the shuttle back to City Park. On the way to Rio Vista Falls, you will pass private homes, a children's playscape, a rope swing, a bridge to an island in the middle of the river and the public pool.

The new Rio Vista Falls replaces the 100-year old concrete dam that was crumbling and dangerous. This feat of engineering and mastery of the San Marcos River in the three months it took to complete the falls is mind boggling. Visit the Lion's Club website about the San Marcos River for more information.

San Salomon Springs

San Solomon Springs has been an oasis to humans and wildlife for tens of thousands of years. The San Solomon Springs fed a ciénega, or desert marsh, a unique biosystem that is so different from the surrounding countryside. It was the one place in this harsh west Texas climate that offered shelter and sustenance to all creatures of the desert.

In the 1930s-1940s, a pool was constructed to contain the springflow and form one of the world's largest man-made pools! Unfortunately, the ciénega was destroyed by this building activity of the Civilian Conservation Corps.

In 1996, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department established a three-acre ciénega below the motel and adjacent to the campgrounds. The cottonwoods, cattails and bulrushes that they planted have flourished. The pied-billed grebe and the green heron returned.

The main part of the pool is circular and has a ledge at four feet. The bottom is lined with rock. There is a concrete-lined area that is four feet deep and an area with diving boards.

At least nine pristine springs release approximately 20-30 million gallons of pure water daily. Visibility is 80 feet, as clear as the Caribbean Sea, so you may see the springs if you wish. You either have to be a scuba diver or hold your breath for a long time.

San Salomon Springs with fish

The sun illuminates thousands of Pecos gambusia and Comanche Springs pupfish, both endangered species. Hovering near the bottom are black catfish that will surfaced in the late afternoon. There are several families of Texas spiny soft-shell and red-eared slider turtles. In the fall, you will see coots and ducks landing above you.

Sulphur Springs

When the first settlers arrived in Lampasas County in the 1850s, they found crystal clear springs, rivers and creeks; rich farm land, rolling hills and abundant game. The town of Lampasas developed around the springs. After a miraculous healing from the mineral waters, the land around the springs was marketed as the Saratoga of the South. Until the mid-1950s, people would come from afar to bottle this spring water for healing effects.

Today, the Green Frog Tea Room overlooks the pool, river and bathhouse.

In season, visitors can swim in the free flow pool fed by the Hancock Springs that pump over 3 million gallons of water per day! The water is 72 degrees F and smells mildly of sulphur.

The Hancock Springs Bathhouse, while mostly submerged, typifies of the opulence of the Saratoga of the South. You will see the marker where the steam baths were built.

Hancock Park with river, bathhouse, spring-fed pool, golf course and some of the clearest, bluest water in Texas.

Updated 02/15/2011