River of Contrasts: The Texas Colorado

3: RIver Revealed

Cross Timbers and the Llano Uplift 67 3: River Revealed CROSS TIMBERS AND INTO THE LLANO UPLIFT Below the dam at O. H. Ivie, the Colorado River cuts across layers of time, digging into the exposed shelves of millions of years. Alluvial deposits along the bed and banks of the river are recent, but the river has relentlessly carved away at the cover of Cretaceous rocks exposing the tilted stacks of old sedimentary rocks in the broad basin. On a geological map, multiple parallel bands of color stripe north to south. The river slices across in a twisting gold line of alluvial soils, descending from young to old, across pale bands of Permian limestone and shale, pink blobs and squiggles of sediment eroded from the Cretaceous and Permian rocks upriver, and into the dark blue patterns of older, exposed Pennsylvanian sandstones. Curving in a tight arc, the river bounces between the old sandstones and tongues of limestone and shale before snaking down the deep canyons of ancient Ordovician limestones into the heart of the Llano Uplift. In this length of river, seven or eight counties, depending on how you count them, crowd up to the river, nudge each other’s shoulders, and wiggle their toes in the stream. It is a land of big ranches, white-tailed deer and turkey hunting, a few row crops, and pecan orchards. The river regains its strength, pulls water from creeks and springs, and works its way back into a free-flowing stream for a few miles before running into the dams of the Highland Lakes downstream. 68 Chapter 3 I’m standing on the concrete bridge downstream of the O. H. Ivie dam. Vertigo makes me go queasy, and my vision darkens around the edges as I look over the concrete guardrail. Cliff swallows are spinning around me, feeding in the April evening. Every photo I take reveals black smudges of small, feathered bodies and blurred streaks of beating wings. I am able, if I hold on tightly to the concrete rail, to look directly into the river below. A female spotted gar swims in the shallow water with a dozen smaller males clustered to her flanks, waiting for her to expel eggs into the stream. The eggs are poisonous, and although they will be scattered over the gravel and left to hatch, they will be undisturbed. Big carp root in the soft bottom; backs and fins glisten bronze and gold out of the water as they stir up clouds of silt and thrash through the shallows. A raccoon steps gingerly off the bank into the river. It walks on tiptoe, its head and tail held high up out of the water looking like a woman trying to keep her skirts dry. Feeling with its paws, it rummages through the Below฀O.฀H.฀Ivie฀Reservoir฀to฀Colorado฀ Bend฀State฀Park Cross Timbers and the Llano Uplift 69 mud for morsels. A trio of deer steps out of the brush bordering the wetlands at the base of the dam. I nearly faint; it is so bucolic and pastoral. Glints of water shine off the dam. There is a shallow trickle down the riverbed. Swinging Bridge to Renfro Dam Two months later and four counties downstream, Bill and I pull up to the of- fice of the Swinging Bridge Campground under the shadow of the Regency Suspension Bridge in Mills County. A sign on the door reads: TODAY’S SPECIAL Hot Dry Air Burnt Grass Green Water We walk down to the river as night falls. The still water is green but clear. We’ve dropped a vehicle off downstream and, after planning how we will get the kayaks and gear to the river, we cautiously pick our way back to our cabin. Engaged in the domestic routines that fill the hours wherever we might be, our Raccoon 70 Chapter 3 evening passes quickly, and we fall asleep to the rumbling of an AC window unit. At 5 a.m. we struggle out of bed and drink strong coffee. The cabin has dark brown shag carpet circa 1970 and an ultra-modern kitchen unit from the 1950s that is so stylized the refrigerator/freezer has fins and giant triangular buttons for latches. Still-gleaming chrome highlights the two electric burners and small enamel sink. It looks like the rear end of a car stranded in a sea of wood paneling and harvest gold...