Summer’s Second Shift
By late August, Texas summer has not gone anywhere. The difference is that school is back, vacation calendars are thinning out, and some of the state’s coldest swimming water suddenly has a little more breathing room.
That makes the back half of August an underrated season of its own. The afternoons are still thoroughly Texas, but the summer schedule has started to loosen. For anyone unwilling to surrender swimming season because a school calendar says so, spring-fed pools offer a particularly satisfying form of resistance.
When 68 Degrees Sounds Wonderful
At Barton Springs Pool in Austin, three acres of water fed by underground springs hold an average temperature of 68 to 70 degrees. In August, that first step can feel downright unreasonable. About ten seconds later, it makes perfect sense.
Timing helps. Barton Springs opens at 5 a.m. most days, making early morning swimming an option before the heat gets ambitious, while evening hours stretch the day after work. From there, Lou’s in Barton Springs can turn the swim into dinner rather than an expedition requiring coolers and elaborate planning.
West of Austin, Krause Springs in Spicewood works at a different pace. Thirty-two springs feed the property, including its man-made and natural pools, with water flowing at roughly 68 degrees. The setting feels more rustic, and current visitor information lists daily hours from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., leaving enough room for a late-afternoon swim when the hottest part of the day finally begins losing the argument.
Afterward, Opie’s Barbecue keeps things appropriately local with brisket and the other smoked essentials waiting a few miles away in Spicewood.
One More Swim
New Braunfels offers perhaps the clearest example of summer changing shifts. The Landa Park Aquatic Complex includes a historic spring-fed pool supplied by Comal Springs that remains at 72 degrees year-round. Beginning Aug. 16, its 2026 schedule moves from daily operation to weekends only through Labor Day, which makes a little advance planning worthwhile.
A swim there can end with something considerably less chilly at Naegelin’s Bakery, a New Braunfels institution founded in 1868 and still producing the sort of bakery-case temptation that makes “we’ll just get one thing” sound optimistic.
Late summer in Texas rarely delivers crisp air or changing leaves. What it does offer is something subtler: cold spring water, a calendar with fewer obligations and the satisfaction of reclaiming one more swim before everyone starts pretending summer is over.
For more ways to keep moving, swimming and playing across Texas, browse the Guide to Texas directory at https://www.guidetotx.com/sports-fitness.
