Turtles and damselflies - more views of the river

We always walk down the cliff trail at least once. As we climbed down to the cliff one morning, we surprised a group of three dark - almost black - squirrels. At first I thought I was seeing things. Then I decided it was just the shadows on the top of the cliff causing regular grey squirrels to look darker. My later research disclosed they were rock squirrels * (whew!).

We walked along the upper trail, climbed down to the lower trail and walked upstream towards the main camping and swimming area. The river is deep in spots along the part of the river near the cliff. On the far bank we spotted a turtle sunning himself on a fallen tree.

 

Later in the day we walked from the normal swimming/camping area to see if the deeper water would allow for a bit of swimming. All too much of the river was just a trickle through the rocks. I cannot say I have ever seen the water this low. The drought has taken a toll on our river.

As we waded into the water we saw plants growing in strange spots.

This little sprig of grass surprised me.

I wonder if this is the switchgrass ** my friend JK has been studying.

Something else entirely.

And we were all surprised to see the turtle was still sunning on the log. DH and the girls headed to the deeper water and I started to wade near the turtle. "Don't scare him into the water. We don't need to worry about turtle bites," warned DH. I laughed and headed closer.

Yes, he is still there on this sunny day.

I didn't get this close...DH asked me not to (hahaha).

This too is taken with the zoom. He is a beauty, but I didn't need to get too close.

Then I saw another, smaller, turtle on a different post.

This turtle was about half the size of the larger one.

And he was much more skittish...jumped off the post and started swimming towards me.

As the turtle disappeared under the waterlilies, I started backing away.

And, of course, I got too close and scared the smaller turtle into the water. And he started swimming my way. [OK, OK. So DH was right. Don't tell him.] I stood my ground, trying to get a photo of him in the water before he turned to hide under the waterlilies.

After a few more photos of the cliff and bank and the damselflies resting on YC before swimming a bit.
 

Dead cypress along the river.

Cliff and a bit of the view downriver.

 

Damselfly on brim of YC's hat

Friendly damselflies on YC's shoulder. Maybe it was the pink color, but they only perched on YC.

We abandoned the swimming hole all too soon - forced out by a bunch of inconsiderate tubers with a boom box.

* www.nsrl.ttu.edu/tmot1/spervari.htm
**http://openwetware.org/wiki/Texas_Switchgrass_Collaborative