Balmorhea State Park was one of the bucket list locales on our Tour of Texas Waterholes we did several summers ago with The Manling and Kinder Frau. During the planning stages of our trips, BSP showed up on list after list as this big deal in Texas. Like, you’ve not arrived until you’ve experienced Balmorhea in person. It is, after all, the WORLD’S LARGEST SPRING-FED SWIMMING POOL and it just so happens to call Texas home. So obviously, being the good Texans we are, we pointed the Tiny Toyota Tardis (because the Yaris is bigger on the inside) toward West Texas to see what all the fuss was about.
But first, we spent the front half of the day sand boarding at Monahans Sandhills State Park, making sure we were primed and pumped to experience the desert oasis that is Balmorhea SP. Once we were completely sandy, abominably hot, and desperately seeking some sand-free refreshment of the H2O variety, we began the exciting 1.5 hour drive to BSP.
Exciting, you may ask?
Yes, exciting!
The north-to-south road that we traveled the bulk of our trip on looked like the set of an old-fashioned movie akin to The Grapes of Wrath. Lots of dust was blowing in winds that were constantly causing us to course correct the Tiny Toyota Tardis. Lots of skeletal structures peppered the landscape after something had clearly blown the rest of the building materials away. We seldom passed another car. We saw another living soul exactly never. And in the west, the vast expanse of sky was growing the largest storm you could imagine – heading toward us. With no where to seek refuge, we continued driving south, sometimes at a snail’s pace, as we helplessly watched that storm slowly sweep toward us, overtake us, and finally – thankfully! – leave our tiny two-door Toyota in it’s dust. Never have we driven in more frightening and unexpected weather than we did that day.
By the time we reached the entrance to BSP, the rain had stopped even though the clouds lingered. We had no idea if the park remained open during inclement weather, but we entered the HQ with our fingers crossed and our prayers prayed that what we’d just driven through would not have been in vain.
It wasn’t! To the contrary, the storms that we had driven through caused an understandable mass exodus from Balmorhea State Park, and now? Now the park was ours to explore and enjoy in almost complete solitude!! (With a cap on the allowable number of visitors per day, it is a big deal that we got in, much less that we practically had the place to ourselves.)
We headed straight for the cool of the pool and enjoyed a few unforgettable hours of swimming, cannonballing, and snorkeling the deep end (a 20 footer!) to get a closer look at the pool’s finned inhabitants (no fishing or noodling allowed).
I’m super glad we had that unforgettable experience in yesteryear because when The Manling and I returned mid-July 2018, our experience was not quite the adventure we remembered. As in, we were there for a whole ten minutes which included a bio break, our signage selfie…
…and registering the car in the HQ with the Park Staffer who regretted to inform us that everything except the picnic area was closed. Every. Single. Thing. See?
Turn that frown upside down, fellow Texas Travelers. They will be open and renovated and repaired and ready to help you create your own memories to share very soon!
Why We Love Balmorhea State Park
- Water. Come on. It’s the WORLD’S LARGEST spring-fed swimming pool. WORLD’S LARGEST. That’s worth checking out. You can swim, scuba dive, or snorkel. (The fact that the constant temp of the pool is in the mid-70’s during the summertime in Texas is bonus gold.)
- CCC Buildings. Truly, your mind wanders and wonders if you’ve somehow stepped back into history and are living in your own West Texas version of Dirty Dancing focused on swimming with the locals instead of sneaking out to forbidden dances with them.
Must Do’s
- Swim. WORLD’S LARGEST spring-fed swimming pool. Why do I have to keep telling you this? Check this one off your bucket list. It’s a definite Must Do!
- Stay. Camp. Motel-type lodging. With the Davis Mountains as your backdrop, this is one sweet place to park yourself overnight, or over an extended weekend.
We’d love to hear about your experiences at Balmorhea State Park! Please share your thoughts on this wet & retro State Park in the comments.