Last week I had the pleasure of visiting Texas for the first time with my other half. She was born in Texas and still has family that lives there. Unfortunately the circumstances that led us to take this trip were due to the passing of a family member.
However we like to make all of our trips an adventure, and my other half, well lets just say she manages to find all the cool and interesting things in every state. She is like my own personal travel agent and for this trip she led me to some pretty cool swimming holes in Texas.
The first place we visited was Hamilton Pool near Dripping Springs Texas. We left our hotel a little after 7am to make the drive there. Most of the pictures I have seen don't do this place justice. It's really something you have to see for yourself. Below are a couple pictures I took, mostly with my Nikon D5100, but also a few with my GoPro Hero 3+ Silver (basically anything that appears fisheye was taken with the GoPro).
The water was less below 70*F which seems cold at first but is very refreshing in the heat of Texas, which explains why this place is so popular. We actually arrived 15mins after the park opened at 9am and got right in, but if you don't get there early enough, you'll be waiting outside the gate until parking becomes available. There was limited parking and the park rangers hold vehicles at the gate once it is full. This was nice because even though the place was busy, the pool never got overcrowded.
We ended up staying for 4hrs without realizing how long we had been there. It was so nice we didn't really want to leave, but we didn't pack our lunches like some of the other visitors. On the way out there was a 20-30 car line of people waiting to get in, so I bet they were happy to see us leave and provide an opening.
The next place we headed on the way back to our hotel was Jacob's Well in Wemberley Texas. Interesting enough this place is completely open to the public. There was a parking area, but there were no park rangers or anything like that; just some trails leading to the spring, and a couple signs with rules written on them. Rules like, no dogs allowed, no jumping off the rocks, swim at your own risk, etc. Pretty much all of them were openly broken by those who visited Jacob's Well. Which is also why this was such a fun place!
Jacob's Well is an underground cavern and spring. The water was significantly colder than Hamilton Pool, especially the closer you swam to the well.
We spent most of our time hanging near the well with the locals watching as people took turns jumping from the rocks into the well. It was fun watching as some people jumped with little hesitation while others debated whether they could make it. Typically the kids had a little less fear and just went for it. My other half was feeling pretty adventurous this day too and came very close to taking the dive after a couple little boys who were continuously jumping told her it was easy!
She almost did it, but I think after standing on the rock long enough it really makes you rethink what you are about to do! I think if we ever go back here we'll probably both try to jump from the rocks because it was all we talked about on the way back to San Antonio afterwards.
Several people at Jacob's Well had GoPro cameras with GoPoles, one guy even had a Phantom 2 quad copter with a gimbal. I wish I had one of my copters with me because this place would have been great for aerial shots. Unfortunately I don't have a good way to transport any of my equipment when traveling by plane. I debated getting a travel case for my QAV400, but the price has been holding me back. First action item after I finish the mini-quad is to spec out a good Pelican case. Since it is smaller it will be easier to get a carryon size case for, and it will probably be cheaper than getting a case for one of my larger rigs.
