Jacob's Well

Update: Jacob’s Well is currently closed to swimmers.

Sitting at the bottom of an enticing pile of large rocks, Jacob’s Well welcomes playful swimmers each year in addition to scuba divers who don’t mind taking their lives into their own hands.

From the surface, the circular, blue pond reaches down 30 feet deep in a vertical drop, the perfect depth for young rock jumpers, but even further down, the hole becomes a network of dangerous caves perfect for adventure-seeking divers. After the initial shaft, the chamber curves into a number of tight caves that have trapped over a dozen divers who suffocated in the dark caves, unable to get out.

The well is the second-largest fully-submerged cave in Texas and is fed from the Trinity Aquifer. It’s a constant 68°F.

Despite the numerous deaths, thrill-seekers refuse to stay away from the dive. One local diver went so far as to install an iron grate over the entrance of one of the more dangerous caves. Shortly after the grate was put in place it was found removed, accompanied by a note scrawled on plastic that said, “You can’t keep us out.” 

Jacob’s Well looms large in the minds of local children, who challenge one another to jump off ever higher rocks into the pristine depths and tell one another ghost stories about the divers who have lost their lives below. Despite the ghost stories and dangers of scuba diving, swimming at Jacob’s Well is reasonably safe and incredibly popular.

Recently, drought conditions in the area have led to reduced water flow in the spring. As of February 2023, Hays County Parks officials have deemed the area unsafe and closed it to swimmers for the foreseeable future.