I always use this site. There is no shade, so maybe I need to rethink it for July and August.

As I started my morning walk, there was a nice breeze and it didn't seem all that hot.

The water was super low. I think someone told me it was 14 feet below usual levels. A lot of the lighter ground youe see here should be underwater.

I tried to get this variegated fritillary with its wings open. It was not cooperative.

I had to settle for a better shot of the wings closed.

This is a little break in the trees on the camp road that let's you take a quick peak at the lake. Sometimes, I see deer in this little area. This time, I saw nothing!

When I saw this, I mistakenly thought that the boat ramp was out of commission. This little dock is usually way out in the water. That little peninsula under it should be under water.

Everything white should be under water.

I like the colors of the tunas.

This is silverleaf nightshade. It grows everywhere and is really pretty

I love bumblebees! This is an American bumblebee.

I am attracted to different plants when they are finishing their life cycles. Thistles are a good example.

This is a beautiful pipevine swallowtail on a life thistle.

Here you can see the upper wings.

The colors do change as they move around.

Check out this one on a dead thistle.

I didn't see many birds this time. But, this lark sparrow

He was such a pretty bird, but he seemed lonely.

There were lots of doves at the lake. Funny things is that they were all mourning doves. I never saw a white-winged dove like at home.

This is when I realized that they were still using the boat ramp.

I usually walk down this trail and take pictures near the shore. This time, it was too hot for extra side trails.

The ladder looks scary to me, but the idea of being up there is cool.

There were several flocks of grackles at the lake.

Another mourning dove

Almost every time I have been here, someone has been painting site numbers and directional arrows. They really do a nice job of keeping this park in good condition.

This is the loop I camped in the very first time I came. The one I am in now was closed at the time. This area was so crowded with lots of families running all over the place.

This is the site I was in that time. It was one of the few that had a strip of beach about five feet wide. People were constantly walking through there to access that beach.

The shoreline is now about 50 yards out. The water used to cover all the greener grass.

This is another area of the park. I hike through it, but have never stayed there.

Everything was so dry.

When it was time to turn around and hike the 45 minutes back to the trailer, the wind stopped, the cloud cover disappeared, and the scorching sun came out to kill me. I sat at a picnic table near this little bamboo patch trying to cool down in the shade a bit.

I couldn't get a sharper image of this guy.

I love this plant. It grows around most lakes in our area. It is called marsh fleabane.

Okay... you can really see the low lake level in this shot. Normally, you wouldn't see any of the rocks. I took advantage of it and walked on this little shore to the dock. It cut off about a 1/2 mile of my walk back.

An even better picture of the low lake level.

A few years ago, I camped at Lake Brownwood. They were having a similar drought problem. All of the private docks were out of the water like this.

I think flatsedge looks cool.

Fresh water clam shells. They don't have any holes, so they more than likely died from the water going down. Usually, the ones eaten by birds have some holes in them.

Okay... The rest of the pictures were taken the next day. I drove over to Overlook Park to see the dam. I didn't realize my camera lens was messy. I was only able to keep two of the 20 or so shots I took before noticing.

This little trail was well shaded. I was following it from the parking lot to the dam.

This was the first time I ever saw woolly ironweed. I really was enamored by the shape and color. I took about 50 pictures of different plants. Fortunately, I am only showing a small percentage of them to you.

I wish this was sharper. Isn't that a pretty little plant?

Nothing special about this yucca. I just felt like snapping a shot.

more ironweed

Here's another...

and, finally the last one

That is the COE headquarters.

A nice peak at the lake from the trail where an access road cuts through.

This is a good look at the dam.

It is about a mile long. I have seen 4 different numbers when trying to find information.

This is a view from standing right inside the gates.

There are usually people down there on the beach.

That's the view of the other side of the dam.

This is a crappy photo of a mockingbird.

I'm not sure what this is. I thought it was a mocking bird, but iNaturalist couldn't verify it.

There was one beautiful Lantana close to the parking lot. I spent a while shooting pictures of the bees.

This and the next one are my favorites.

This one is probably a Sonoran Bumblebee.

That's the trail that we take when we are going to hike through the Canyon Lake Gorge.

One last little buttlerfly on the Lantana. It is a gray hairstreak.