Sunday, June 24, 2012
Hamilton Pool and the Pedernales River
We were at the local Culvers a few days ago and were looking at the Austin-related pictures on the walls "Yep, saw that...saw that..." until we got to the one thing we did not see from those pictures...Hamilon Pool. So, we took a break from packing, medical stuff, work, to go there this morning (went to church last night). The park website warns that the 75 car lot fills quickly, so we got there about 9:30 and got in line (there were about 20 slots left, but the cars kept coming all day to wait their turn for the lot). The "pool" is a large plunge pool for a 50-foot waterfall at the end of a small canyon. More accurately, the pool is surrounded by cliffs sporting tufa flowstone formations and a huge overhang around at least half its perimeter. This time of the year the water really just trickles over the falls and waters the moss and ferns. The tiny gravel beach was crowded, but there are plenty of large boulders to spread out on around the pool. We ate lunch on the boulders near the back of this huge grotto. Far above our heads we could see lots of oyster fossils from the Cretaceous - we were under an ancient seafloor and still tens of feet above the water. We enjoyed the water (though it was not as clean as some pictures might suggest). It beat the 100 degree heat. When we were done with that, we drip-dried as we hiked along the long path that followed the creek to the Pedernales River. The river was warm and shallow, and we had fun playing in the water some more. Temps near 100 will continue all week. If the high pressure was not over Texas, there would have been more of a chance that tropical storm Debbie would have tracked this way instead of Florida. Some people would not have minded the rain.
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