Wow! E picked Hamilton Pool out from some online resource, so we put it on the list. What a beautiful spot! It is a bit out in the country, about 1/2 hour from Austin. There is an $8 charge per car that comes in. A short trail leads sharply downhill on limestone steps and dirt. Then a short path takes you through huge rocks to the pool. This is one of the most amazing features I have seen. The overhang is huge! There is a path around the entire overhang in the back. A stream drips over the top, ensuring water for plants that grow on and under the overhang.
From the back you get a great view of the swimming area. There is a small limestone sand and pebble beach. Kind of hurts your tender feet, but a pair of flip-flops would help a lot. The water is really great. While we were there the sky got dark and the wind came up. A young woman ranger appeared and told people that if it rained more than 1/2 inch she would have to get people out. They have to test for bacteria (takes 24 hours) before allowing people in again. While it rained people took shelter under the overhang.
This gives you a better idea of the depth of the overhang. It is really deep. I couldn't begin to image how this formed, as the canyon was neither terribly deep nor wide. There must have been some immense drainage going on. As we looked at the underlying rock, it seemed to be a softer composite, rather than a harder limestone.
Some of the drips come down from large stalactites. The rock must be a little porous, as not all of the stalactites appear at the lip of the overhang.
A bunch of swallows live here, in these mud nests. They are located in a sheltered spot under the lip of the overhang.
Starting just below the pool is a stream that contains bald cypresses. This is kind of amazing, finding trees that require wet conditions in the middle of what amounts to a limestone hill desert. The trees are beautiful. They have gnarly roots and knees. They extend all down the stream.
The pools are really beautiful. The light rain continued while we were walking down the trail. It kept things realtively cool and refreshing, and kept dimpling the pools.
This pool had a prehistoric look, with the rocks and cypresses!
At the end of the path is the Pedernales River. We were surprised at the amount of water and at the width of the river. It was very peaceful here.
After the park H had a hair appointment - for a free haircut. She thought it would take about 1 1/2 hours. We began to get kind of antsy after a while (no pun intended). We were reduced to watching a herd of ants take away a spilled peanut.
Eventually, after 4 hours, tons of text messaging, and a few snarky visits to the cutting room by me, H came out transformed. She now has short hair (and it looks beautiful)!
By then it was 9:30PM and we were worried about getting dinner. We had planned to go to Rosie's Tamale House, famous for guess what? Tamales. They took us in without a problem and fed us in a very short time. We were kind of starved and finished very quickly. Everything was really good. The tamales, of course, were superb. One of the recommendations we saw on the web was "the best gooey TexMex in Texas". Confirmed!
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