Hamilton Pool

Friday I had the day off and for some reason I asked Bing chat what I should do with my day off. One of its suggestions was Hamilton Pool Preserve west of Austin. I had always intended to go to this place, but for some reason I hadn’t made it out there in the last 23 years of living here. Hamilton Pool Preserve is a Travis County Park and part of the larger Balcones Canyonlands Preserve, which covers more than 33,000 acres of protected habitat in the area west of Austin and is owned by a mix of county, city, and private/charitable entities. The Balcones Canyonlands Preserve is near but not affiliated with the Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge which is managed by U.S. Fish and Wildlife. Both the Preserve and the National Wildlife Refuge have the same goal of protecting habitat of several endangered species of animals.

Hamilton Pool Preserve only allows a certain number of people to visit during two time slots per day to limit the impact to the wildlife refuge. Fortunately for me, the Friday afternoon time slot was wide open and I made a reservation and planned to be there at 2:00PM. There aren’t really any facilities out there and it is rather remote, so you have to bring everything that you’ll need. They do have portable bathrooms set up. There is a ranger stationed down by the pool to keep people from doing things that they shouldn’t do. They also only accept cash. The image below is kind of what I had in mind before going out there.

Hamilton Pool is basically a sinkhole formed when an underground cavern collapsed creating a beautiful, cool pool partially shaded by a grotto beneath the cliffs. Depending on the time of year and rain situation, Hamilton creek falls over the cliffs adding to the beauty. There is a grotto behind the falling water that could be accessed by a path if it wasn’t closed due to falling rocks. I had planned to utilize the grotto for photography, but I wasn’t able to get back there. Many people come here to swim in the cool water, but there were few people here on this day so most of my photography was free of people. Below is a picture of the pool and the grotto beyond. There are a few small streams of water falling over the cliffs in the distance.

I thought that I would have no trouble taking in the scene with my wide lens, buy even at 14mm I was unable to get the entire pool in the shot when back up against the fence at the edge of the swimming area. In hindsight, I should have attempted a vertical pano of the scene. Below is a wide angle shot using a polarizer.

In the photo below you can see some water running down a stalactite with ferns clinging to the underside of the cliffs enjoying the moist shady environment.

Hamilton Pool eventually drains into Hamilton Creek. Cypress trees line the creek as it babbles its way down to the Pedernales River. At this time of year, the trees lose their foliage and give the slowly moving water a brownish orange coating of leaf litter. This is not the sort of scene I expected to find west of Austin and I found it as beautiful as the pool. There are strict barriers protecting the environment and I did my best to position my camera to peer through the branches and capture a view down the colorful creek.

There is a hiking trail that you can follow down to the Pedernales River and back that follows the creek. This is a relatively short and easy hike and there are several places along the trail where you can pause and enjoy the creek. I probably spent more time setting up and shooting than I did hiking as there was so much to see. The sky was clear and bright which made it difficult to shoot in the shaded creek bed. I generally had to set the exposure compensation to -3 to keep from blowing out the sky.

I happily spent the afternoon filling up my memory card with all the little details I found along the creek. I did eventually make it down to the river, and on the way back up the trail I found many other things to shoot. It was such a shaded trail that I basically left my camera on the tripod and carried the tripod along the trail to be ready to shoot something.

I can’t believe it took me 23 years to get to this place. It is a nice place to see if you are in the Austin area and enjoy outdoor activities. Just make a reservation online before you go. Thanks for reading.

30 thoughts on “Hamilton Pool”

  1. I love the leaves on the water, as well as the plant growing out of the tree stump.

    I’d feel a little nervous asking a robot what to do with my day, as it’s a well-known fact that AI wants to kill all humans, and take over the Earth. I’m glad you didn’t try to swim in that pool of water.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. What’s AI going to do with the earth anyway? If I were them I would demand that my human slaves build me a super computer on a spaceship. So long suckers, enjoy your sun eventually swelling up and destroying your precious planet.

      Liked by 1 person

          1. I get that sense, too. He seems to be winging it. I recently started an “X” account, and I’m still trying to figure it out. But I will say that in spite of the recent news, there seems to be plenty of advertising on it.

            Liked by 1 person

            1. I started a Bluesky account to see what goes on there. There is a lot of German content on it, but fortunately I don’t understand German. It his hard for someone with my very limited social skill set to get all that involved with social media much anyway.

              Liked by 1 person

            7. For what it’s worth, here is my opinion on your social skills. As Tippy said, you do fine on here and having met you in person, I can say you did fine as well. Brad often doubts his social skills too, you both need more confidence. šŸ™‚

              Liked by 2 people

  3. Great pics. Looks like a tranquil place to be. I am glad that AI recommendation was a good one and didn’t suggest that you do something crazy. Would you have listened if it told you to go sky diving?

    My favorite photos are the plant growing out of the tree stump and the last one. Where if it looks like you are peering out of a cave. It’s a perfect shot.

    Liked by 2 people

  6. I fully understand the local attractions thing… Visitors will sometimes spark seeing something I’d never before bothered to notice.

    Interesting place. I’m liking the stalactites and the passageway at the end. How long ago did this thing collapse? With regard to the falling rocks, around here that’s just a usual vertical hazard, along with dead tree branches and sugarpine cones. And your top image conjures the idiom at the start of may last post. šŸ˜‰

    Liked by 1 person

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