The waymark coordinates are for the entrance to the Balmorhea State Park at Toyahvale. In 2010 when we visited, we saw a ranch across the street from the park and some old vacant stores. Obviously, there was more (but not much more) there in 1940 when the WPA writers came through.
The spring-fed pool at the CCC-built state park stays around 72 degrees, so it's great for serial cool off dips. Unless you have a wetsuit, you will get cold very quickly!
"TOYAHVALE, 267 m. (3,340 alt., 7 pop.), is a tiny crossroads settlement at the edge of BALMORHEA STATE PARK (boating, fishing, swimming), a 95O-acre recreation area centered about San Solomon Springs.
In Toyahvale is the junction with State 17."
From Texas Highways: (
visit link)
"All Wet!: San Solomon Springs, Balmorhea State Park
Written by Melissa Gaskill.
Standing on the high dive—one of few left these days—I can see the bottom of this 25-foot-deep pool through water almost as clear as the arid desert air that surrounds Balmorhea State Park on the hem of the Davis Mountains. A quintessential oasis.
This spring-fed lake, enclosed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s, covers 1.75 acres and holds more than 3.5 million gallons of brisk 72- to 76-degree water (Olympic swimming pools contain 660,000 gallons). The San Solomon Springs pump up to 28 million gallons through the lake daily, their flow bubbling gravel on the bottom like a pot of Malt-O-Meal. Visibility of up to 80 horizontal feet makes it great for scuba diving; hold still and clouds of Rio Grande tetra crowd around your mask (looking at you, or their own reflections?). Endangered Pecos gambusia and Comanche Springs pupfish—found nowhere else—and rare headwater catfish may swim nonchalantly past. The water flows into restored canals, creating a desert wetland full of aquatic creatures, birds, and other wildlife. Swim all day then stay at the adobe San Solomon Springs Motor Court, another CCC creation, and do it all again tomorrow.
Balmorhea State Park is on Texas 17, Toyahvale, 432/375-2370. Open year-round; call for hours, admission fees, and information about diving."