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COPYRIGHT 2001 Texas Monthly, Inc.
The best swimming holes in Texas will keep you from being a rotten egg this summer.
Long before we modern folks discovered air conditioning, our forefathers learned to endure, the wicked Texas summer by observing the customs of our first landed gentry, the Indians. Those so-called savages survived the stifling Junes, Julys, and Augusts with a minimum of sweat by whiling away a good portion of los dias del perro at the local swimming hole. The number of arrowheads, pottery fragments, cooking utensils, and other assorted leavings that have been found around the state's larger springs testifies to the Indians' presence.
Like the Indians, most swimming holes were eventually displaced. They fell prey to development, water pollution, and, more important, the evolution of the modern swimming pool, a leisure device that has effectively removed the swimmer from the pool. Have you ever tried to do laps in a kidney-shaped pool?
Swimming holes can be found in every corner of Texas, from the sedate Crystal Springs resort near Maud on the edge of the Arklatex to the historic Big Bend Hot Springs outside Rio Grande Village in far Southwest Texas, a stone's throw from Mexico. All of them harbor the liquid kind of summer magic that can summon up memories of splash fights, cannonballs and can openers, games of Marco Polo, and reddened skin. But swimming holes aren't merely nostalgic items for me anymore, because swimming isn't just a pastime. It has become great sport too. Those experts who know about human bodies say that there exists no better form of exercise.
It took me almost four years of swimming regularly to realize precisely why the Town Lake jogging path gets stacked up like Dallas' North Central Expressway during rush hour: joggers enjoy scenery as much as they like getting healthy. Why spin around and around the high school track when you can run and actually go somewhere? It's the same with jogging in the water. I swim to feel better, but I want an experience to go with it.
Flowing spring-fed water is the top priority. If you can't see where you're going underwater, half the experience is lost. Besides, stagnant ponds breed disease. The water temperature should be cool, no more than 80 degrees, which prevents bacterial growth. But in the spirit of Joni Mitchell, who sang about preferring apples with spots to apples treated with pesticides, I'll take my age straight.
Of course, the area around the swimming hole should be clean--trash cans and rest rooms can be all too rare. Shade trees definitely add to the ambience. So do fish to swim with, big rocks to sit on, ropes to swing from, and waterfalls to look at. Out of respect for private property and out of fear of shotguns, I steer toward swimming holes with easy public access. Remember too that reckless swimming and diving inevitably lead to accidents. Water conditions vary according to rainfall, flow rate, and season, and all rivers and low-lying areas are subject to flash flooding. Use the phone and call ahead.
The majority of the places that met my criteria are in the Edwards Plateau region of the Texas Hill Country. Aboveground, the rolling limestone formations make for the prettiest wide-open spaces this side of the Big Bend. Belowground, the Edwards Aquifer's vast network of springs provides rivers...
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