Our visit to Lake Colorado City State Park was a pleasant surprise. We had last visited in May, 2022, and it was very hot with temperatures in the 105-degree range with strong southerly winds. The lake was very low, too. This time, in October, 2023, was much different. The area had received quite a bit rain recently, the lake had filled  a lot and the temperatures were ideal. And even better, we found a lot of plants in bloom, including four new species.

Clicking on the “Photo Details” button you’ll see the camera setting, among other things. It was very breezy at the park, which necessitated using a higher shutter speed, mostly at 1/200 sec. or faster. To do this I allowed the ISO to range as necessary, sometimes quite high.  Doing so usually adds noise to the image, so I used a software called Topaz AI to remove it.