Traveling with the Longdogs: Swimmin' with the Fish at Balmorea

When we left Davis Mountains State Park, the sun was shining and the temperatures were rising. We headed north towards I-10 but we had a stop I've been wanting to make for a long time. San Solomon Springs has been in use for a long time by the Indians and then the Mexicans. They used it for irrigation purposes.

This is an artesian spring and before it was modified by farmers and park builders, the springs emptied into a desert wetland called a cienega. Over time, the wetlands dried up and disappeared; however, the cienegas have been recreated and the water also flows through some canals all the way to Balmorea Lake. Now, where do you find San Solomon Springs, why in Balmorea State Park, of course.

Parking is rather limited in the park but we arrived early and were able to park along one side of the parking lot without inconveniencing anyone else. It was cool enough to open some windows and put the dogs in the RV after we played with them in a nearby field. We weren't sure if it would be warm enough to swim so we didn't tell the kids until we got there what they would be seeing at the park. The pool is huge, sort of like two gigantic football fields hooked together in a wing shape. There were swimmers in the water including a school of scuba divers and ducks.

The kids and Steve were ecstatic when they saw the diving boards at one end of the pool. The fun was on.

Even Morgan got into the high dive act.

There are real nice grounds all around the pool with picnic tables for family gatherings.

This gives an idea of the size of the pool and it stretches out like a football field on each side of this center section.

A view back to the changing rooms.

Can you see the natural rocks in the bottom? While the sides may look like a regular pool, the bottom is natural.

Everyone is enjoying the water. You can see the divers buoy towards the top left.

See the fish?

More fun. The water stays about 75 degrees year round.

Morgan heads down the pool after her dad.

Good thing she didn't look down as she was swimming along. I'm sure there would have been loud screeches even though we told her there were fish in the pool. We were kind of surprised at the size of the catfish.