Balmorhea State Park in Toyahvale, TX

Monday, November 21, 2016

Today we moved from San Angelo State Park to Balmorhea State Park.  It is a beautifully sunny morning.

Here we are west on I-10.  Notice the speed limit.  80 mph WOW!
The peak in this picture is unique looking.  That is a rock formation on the top.  See below.

We made it to Balmorhea State Park about 1:30pm.  Clouds had rolled in which made it good for washing bugs off the front of the coach.

The camping part of the park is very nice. This is our parking site.  Large, mostly level, water, electric and cable. All the sites in this area have 20/30/50 amp.  There is a dump site.

This part of the park has 20/30 amp. The sites are a little shorter and smaller but still very nice.
 

Even more sites.  

The highlight of Balmorhea State Park are the San Solomon Springs which produce 17 million gallons of water per day.  This spring feeds 3 local towns all their water.  The1.75-acre spring-fed swimming pool is the star of this 45-acre desert park.  The pool was built in the 1930s by the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps). The bottom of the pool was left natural and the water in the pool is amazingly clear. The next few following pictures are the pool as we walked around it.

Many of the trees here are changing colors.  In the left center of the picture is a canal leaving the pool area.
 

The pool goes from 3 ft to 20 feet deep in this part of the pool.
 

Here is the sign about the depth.  The rocks you can see are at least 3 feet deep, so you can get an idea of how clear the water is.
 

This is a closer picture of the structure at the back of the picture 2 above. This area of the pool goes to 25 ft deep.
 

Here we are looking back at the diving board area.
 

We are looking at the 25 ft deep area of the pool.  Also in the back is the bath house, mens & womens changing areas including restrooms and showers.  Many people come here to scuba dive.  They also get certified here.
 

Here is another canal of water leaving the pool area.  There are several canals leaving the pool.  They all divide into smaller canals and head to the local towns.

This is one of the ponds around the area.  It is spring fed also and very clear.
 

We saw several of these ducks.  I think they are wood ducks.  You can see the green grass in the bottom of the pond.
 

We also saw this large blue heron.

This canal runs in front of the rooms that can be rented.  Isn't that a beautiful yellow tree?
 

Above is another part of the same canal.  Below is a close up of the bridge with the mini waterfall.

This is a very peaceful and beautiful park.

This is another pond we saw on our walk.  See the green growth.  We figure this pond was about 5 ft deep.
 

We were surprised that you can see the catfish under the water. This is the same pond as above.
 

We also saw lots of these soft shell turtles in this pond.  The larger ones would come to the top, poke their head out of the water and stare at us.  Expecting food???
 

The sun was starting to set.  The clouds are reflecting on the water.

Once we got back home, we saw this rainbow.  This was the right side of the rainbow and below is the small part of the left side we were able to see.

Another shot of the left side of the rainbow.  What an awesome sight!

These last two pictures are of the final part of our awesome sunset! 

We feel so blessed to get to enjoy so much of God's Glory!  The sky looked like it was on fire.

We leave in the morning.  This was just a one night stop.  We really enjoyed our stay.