We went on a tour of the Selah, Bamberger Ranch Preserve in Blanco County yesterday. This was one of the stops on our tour where they gave us a presentation on how water is reclaimed better by the land when there is a proper balance of grasslands with trees. I loved the tranquility of the spot and with the morning sun off to the left of the shot it provided a nice glow on the trees as it broke through the clouds. The wind was down, providing a mirror-like reflection of the hillside above this idealic swimming hole. Oh how I would have loved to plunge into this pool of clear Texas Hill Country water. To read more about the ranch and see the schedule of their workshops and tours, visit http://bambergerranch.org.
My wife and I went out to Brushy Creek Lake the other evening to check out the lake after the flooding we had Thursday night. The lake was up about 6 feet and the parking lot that we normally park in to unload our kayaks was closed. Glad we have the kayak trailer as we were able to take that down to the water's edge with our kayaks after leaving our van in the parking lot that the rest of the park users use. We paddled around the lake and got to areas that the water does not normally cover, but as we were wrapping up our paddle the sun was setting and there was a lot of haze in the air from the elevated humidity after the rains. I tried to get this shot several times with my DSLR, but never could get it high enough so my wife's head wouldn't be lost in the shoreline. I finally pulled out my iPhone, raised it as high as I could out of the kayak and made this shot. One of my new favs from our paddling adventures.
Nothing like a good swimming hole and this one is on the San Gabriel River just off County Road 279 south of Liberty Hill, Texas. I've ridden my bike over the bridge that looks down on this swimming spot more times than I can count over the years, but never stopped to go down and take a look. Yesterday evening I decided to make the stop in my celebration of National Camera Day. Hope you enjoy this little slice of the Texas Hill Country as much as I enjoyed capturing it at sunset.
