Ranger Recommendation
During the spring, alligators start to mate. Ranger Danny Thach says that if you walk along the 40-Acre Lake Trail, the Spillway Trail or the Elm Lake Trail, you’re likely to hear one of the male alligators bellowing to let its presence be known. “That’s a cool experience,” he says. The loud, low-pitched vocalizations can cause the water to vibrate, or even “dance.”
Wildest Staff Story
“We had a report, a phone call, from a visitor who said there was an alligator in the restroom. I said, ‘Oh boy, let’s get it out of there.’ He said it was a small one, a baby, but we needed to get it out. We go there, and we’ve got three guys with gloves, we’ve got grabbers and buckets and stuff like that. We show up to get the gator, and I say, ‘Where’s the gator?’ He says, ‘It’s right there.’ It was a gecko. It was on the wall. I said, ‘That’s a gecko.’ He said, ‘No, that’s a baby gator.’ I said, ‘No, these guys get in the bathrooms sometimes. I think everyone’s going to be fine.’”
“I heard one of our customer service representatives take a call. He was saying, ‘I’m not sure what you mean. We don’t have any statues in the park.’ I asked what that was about. A woman called to say that the statues in the park are amazing and look so lifelike — the statues of alligators around the lake. He said, ‘Those are not statues. Those are real alligators.’ She said, ‘But they didn’t move at all. I’m glad I didn’t sit on one!’”
Maegan Lanham | TPWD