In the afternoon after Alligator Lake we went to O’Leno State Park.

I had on the 10-22mm, so here are my scenery shots.

Mike took the creature shots, and processed the photos.

This aligator lazily entered the water and swam around us in Ogden Lake, one of the places that the water from the Sante Fe surfaces.

This might be a southern toad. Or it might not.

Where the Santa Fe River first goes underground, there is a slow circular current which rotates the logs that the turtles sun on. One of the logs in the deep shade had a large alligator hanging with the turtles.

We watched this wasp (Thread-waisted Wasp family?) carry a caterpillar several times its size near where we were watching the turtles. It set the caterpillar down and then began hunting around in the sand. And hunted some more. Finally, the wasp uncovered its hole and hauled the caterpillar into the darkness.

Meanwhile, I spotted a large mosquito on Mike and swatted while he was changing lenses, which almost lost the lovely 100mm.

As evening approached, we headed back on the trail that appeared to be heading most directly towards the parking area. A ranger came by in his truck and told us to take the other trail, which looked no more official or labeled.