More than just the spring itself is at stake. This 96 acres of property surrounding it have been placed under conservation easements to restore and safeguard its conservation qualities forever. They have opened up new possibilities for public recreational access and practical learning about water and the environment by transferring Jacob’s Well Natural Area to Hays County.
Located at 1699 Mount Sharp Road, Wimberley, Texas, Jacob’s Well is a park maintained by the Hays County Parks Department. The park is open daily from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm, with the last admission at 5:30 pm. Groups of 10 or more are not permitted to visit the swimming well without prior arrangements being made. The minimum time for a reservation is two hours.
There is no cost to enter Jacob’s Well Natural Area. The cost to enter the natural spring well to swim is between $5 and $9, with no charge for children under the age of four.
Five separate land surveys make up Jacob’s Well Natural Area, with the natural spring serving as a connecting corner. William C. Winters, a Wimberley native and veteran of the Battle of San Jacinto, set out in the early 1850s to find the headwaters of Cypress Creek on foot. Jacob’s Well was once an abundant spring that he discovered. The Well has become Texas’s second-largest underwater cave.
Despite being located in a park that spans over 81 acres, the well itself is rather modest in size. The park has a decently paved walking route that leads from the parking lot to the Well. It’s roughly a 10-minute stroll to the Well, from which you may descend to get the water.
The area around the Well is ideal for wading in the refreshing water, and there is even a rock “bench” where onlookers may sit and watch the daring swimmers as they leap from the rocks into the Well.
The diameter of the Well is 12 feet, and it goes down another 30 feet. Expert cave divers have discovered several passages in Jacob’s Well, with lengths of up to 4,500 feet! The temperature of this spring rarely rises over 68 degrees.
History of Jacobs Well
Beginning in 1991, when the Baker family and their business partners bought the first 25 acres and half of the lots with access to Jacob’s Well, David Baker began weaving together the pieces that would become the Jacob’s Well Natural Area. He then went on to create the Wimberley Valley Watershed Association and buy more land, which included an RV park, tennis center, and condos in a flood plain.
The impervious cover was removed, and structures were demolished, thanks to large volunteer initiatives and private finance. Jacob’s Well Natural Area was established as a public park in 2010 thanks to funding from the 2007 Hays County Parks bond.
The spring known as Jacob’s Well is a Texas landmark. Located close to Wimberley, Texas, Jacob’s Well is the source of Cypress Creek, thanks to its position as a karst spring fed by the Middle Trinity Aquifer. More than six thousand feet of the underwater route at a maximum depth of 140 feet have been documented by cave divers with the Jacob’s Well Exploration Project.
The Middle Trinity Aquifer provides the majority of the region’s drinking water from underground. The rate at which water flows from Jacob’s Well is affected by both seasonal and interannual changes in the weather.
Jacob’s Well flow is also directly affected by groundwater extraction from the Middle Trinity Aquifer. Recent years have seen a dramatic decrease in spring flow due to a combination of drought cycles and increasing groundwater extraction. The Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District has established Jacob’s Well Groundwater Management Zone to coordinate and control the usage of groundwater.
WVWA maintains its strategic land conservation activities in vulnerable ecosystems and recharge zones. WVWA has surveyed warbler populations, done property valuations, visited with local landowners and elected officials, and discussed funding and conservation possibilities for properties around Jacob’s Well with The Nature Conservancy. The objective to maintain spring flow and a thriving economy in the Wimberley Valley relies heavily on land conservation efforts.
