American Alligator sunning across the path between 40 Acre and Elm Lakes at Brazos Bend State Park. It was about 6 feet long. This is a common occurrence in the park. The path that was clear several minutes before is now blocked. It took me about 5 or 6 minutes to finally walk around this guy. He would not move from this spot. I finally kept one eye on him, while he had one on me, as I came around to his left on the grassy part of the path. This is also why you should always scan ahead of where you are walking at all times. You will literally walk right into one of these gators if you're not paying attention. You obviously give larger gators more respect than smaller ones. None of them are afraid of humans though, which makes them dangerous to the uninformed. This is not a zoo. It is a unique opportunity to see nature at its finest in the wild.

Great Blue Heron cooling off