Anyone in Austin hitting the Town Lake YMCA pool Wednesday morning at 5:30 or 6 and want to bring a “guest” as I am in town on business for a couple days. If you are please send me a message - greatly appreciated!
You can swim for free at Big Stacy Pool. I believe it opens at 6:00 AM.
Address:
1901 Eastside Dr
Austin, TX
(Note: this is from Google Maps, and does not appear to be 100% accurate to my recollection)
It is an outdoor pool, but is spring fed, and remains roughly the same temperature (a little on the chilly side, but not too bad) regardless of air temp.
It is also a 33 yard pool, so somewhat longer than a standard one.
It is VERY close to downtown . . . just go straight south on Congress Ave. to Live Oak Street, and turn left. You should run right into the parking lot (which will be on your left, just past Eastside Dr.
Stacy is usually open form 6am-8pm in the winter, if I recall… I haven’t been in a while, but the new bathrooms should be open.
Big Stacy isn’t spring fed. Barton Springs and Deep Eddy are spring fed. It is open at 6am because I remember spending many cold ass mornings on the deck waiting for that damn lifeguard to get up on his little chair. Big Stacy is outdoor, heated, and the stench of chlorine stays with you all day long. Man, I love the smell of chlorine in the morning!
And to the OP, once you go, we’ll be expecting you to post in the “strange denizens of the pool” thread later that day. You’ll know what I mean once you go to Big Stacy at 6am.
Big Stacy isn’t spring fed.
You sure about that? I coulda sworn that it was. If not, they need to crank up the heat a little more during the winter months.
Edit: I was sort of right. It’s fed by a naturally warm artesian well: Warm Feelings for a Cool Pool:
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In the summer, it’s filled with city water, which is treated and recirculated through the pool, says Tom Nelson, acting aquatic manager for the City of Austin. In the winter, though, there’s a cozy difference: Big Stacy is filled with a mixture of city water and warm water pumped from a well fed by the Trinity Aquifer, which lies deep below the Edwards Aquifer. The water emerges at close to 100 degrees and is rich with dissolved minerals, traditionally valued for their therapeutic effects, says Ernie Baker, hydrologist emeritus with the U.S. Geological Survey Office in Austin. Combining the two water sources keeps winter pool temperatures around 80 degrees.
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I don’t recall it feeling like 80 degrees before. Of course, it’s been 2 years since I swam there now that I’ve moved north.
I’m pretty sure. It has been heated every winter that I swam there and there is the smell of chlorine in the water as well. All the other spring fed pools don’t use any chlorine at all.