Installment #22 in Monolisticle's Ongoing Campaign Against the "Internet of Endless Listicles."
When I think of Texas Hill Country, I think of rolling green hills of cedar. Live oaks with branches that stretch out for days. And the ongoing quest for a pleasant place to cool off.
My favorite pleasant place to cool off, by far, is Hamilton Pool, about 23 miles west of Austin.
If you’re willing to take a bit of a walk (which has the added benefit of helping to burn off your morning’s chicken fried steak or breakfast tacos), it’s more than worth it. Because at the end of that bit of a walk you’ll find hidden amid a forest of twisted cedar and gnarly rock an old cavern that caved in thousands of years ago to form what is now a grotto.
Subscribe to monolisticle for free weekly articles sent to your inbox, everything from art, culture and music to food, film, and travel. Not all the things. Only the best things.
Pictures don’t do the grotto justice. It’s impossible to capture the scale and volume of the space, and the sound you hear as you swim underneath the overhang and the drops of water plop lightly around you, and the reflected sunlight flickers about the ceiling of ancient rock and green moss above you.
As if the grotto itself weren’t majestic enough, it has a waterfall at the far end of its pool that pours down in varying magnitudes and splendor, depending on how recently it rained. You can swim out to it directly (but only if you’re an excellent swimmer as there’s no lifeguard on duty and it's much farther than it looks), or take a walking path that wraps around the pool.
There are really only two attractions worth driving 20 miles outside of Austin for, and this is one of them. The other is the original Salt Lick BBQ. And if you can work out the logistics, you can knock out both in the same day. And that, in my book, is a pretty good day.
If you enjoyed this article, please click the Facebook or Twitter icons at the bottom of this page and share it with others. You'll be helping to support our work, and the work of the artists, restaurants, cultural institutions, and experiences we write about. And we all would certainly appreciate the support right now. Thank you!
Kommentare