Graupel Canyon dark waters

How could water look this dark and threatening at night while it was beautiful, scenic and clear during the day? Inviting you for a swim, to dip your toes in, to scoop it up and have a drink or put it on the back of your neck on a hot day?

He'd been out here all day. For a lack of better things to do and because he wanted to be alone. Getting away from everyone and everything seemed like the only plausible thing to do right now.
There was nothing he could do about lost chances and screwed up options. Dax would have loved to tell Cami about this but how? There was this aweful silence between them now that he didn't know how to break. And all other friends he had were either working for the police or not real close. And he wasn't in the mood to explain anything and justify his stupid ways to anyone.
So he had been walking around the Canyon the whole day and stayed until night fell. Sitting on a rock face, nothing but air below it and then dark waters.

Marybeth had been here all day, too! Or at least, a lot of the day. The whole afternoon. The thing she loved best about Colorado, or at least this part, was how you could be in the wilderness in just an hour or two, soaking in the quiet, the sunshine and the green.

And the mountains were GREEN this year. Lots of rain had made the foothills heavy with leafing brush, and the grass that came up everywhere was going to seed already. Lots of birds had been busy in the open meadows here all day, fighting and eating. Then they had flown home to sing together, reminding each other of where they lived. It was getting quiet now that the sun was set, and without thinking about it much, Marybeth had gone down to the lake and paddled quietly across its surface, in her own little world of water-feel and water-sound. She missed the human's presence altogether, although she had heard other visitors here throughout the day. A good ways from the shore now, she rolled onto her back, her legs kicking sharply every second or two to keep her from sinking under. The sky was big and blue-black and wonderful.

From his position up on the rockface he could see the sky and moon perfectly. Underneath him he could hear the bubbling and saw the dark water of the lake. The reflection of the moon was broken by some ripples on it.
That's when he noticed something floating down below. He looked a bit closer, eyes narrowing. What was that? It was moving? Wasn't it? Was that a person? The shape was hard to see right now.
Dax wasn't sure but suddenly he feared that maybe down there someone had gone for a night swim and was now in trouble.
So he stood up and shouted. "Hey, are you okay?"
He couldn't possibly jump into unknown waters from up here, so he started descending down the rock towards the lower parts, his steps became faster as he had to round a few trees that blocked his few.

One thing about being very white is that your face showed up very easy in the dark, if there was any light at all. This was true for both Marybeth AND Dax! She didn't see him first, but heard him shouting, and it made all her muscles tense immediately with fright. She thought she'd been out here alone! She followed her first instinct and let her body sink beneath the surface, floating cool and unseen several feet below the waterline. Down here, she could not hear much of anything going on on land, and this was...not the best scenario for hiding. But she thought if she waited long enough, he would decide he hadn't seen anyone. Or a ghost! So she floated, arms and legs moving slowly, eyes open and staring at the blackness around her.

Just as he reached the waters edge he could see her go under. He was sure there was a woman in the water and now she'd been swallowed by the dark waters. Dax had no idea whether she'd been splashing of caught on something but he knew there was someone in there who would drown.
There wasn't much of a current in the lake. Why was she not coming up.
Dax stood at the edge undecided whether to jump in or not. Would he even be able to make out the spot? Or should he leave and act like nothing had happened. Everything inside of him screamed to do something. Now!
So he pulled his shoes off, the shirt went as well but he didn't have to to take off his pants before he waded a few steps into the cold wet and then dove in hoping he'd be able to get some orientation.
the water licked at him with cold tongues, giving him instant chills, so he sped up.
As quickly as he could he swam to the point where he had seen her last and then dove done in hopes to get a glimpse of her white skin.

She could not hear him above the water. But she heard him dive in, and that complicated what exactly she was going to do. She began to shimmy her arms and legs, cycling slowly downward as she watched and listened in the dark water. Maybe if she moved further out into the lake...

She had stretched out horizontally and was kicking her way out to deep water when she caught a glimpse of him far to her right. Urgh!

The water was very cold right now that no sun was there to warm it or to dry you when you got out. What was worse was that he couldn't see the person anymore.
He eben wiped over his eyes under water but it was simply too dark. Twice Dax broke through the surface...desperately trying to find anything in the lake butbhe couldn't. Whoever was there was gone.
So he was just paddling and shouting.

Hiding in the dark, Marybeth had plenty of time to pass through her initial fear; after several minutes, in which it was obvious this guy wasn't going to find her, she began to feel guilty instead. He had seen her, yes, but he had been sure enough she wasn't a ghost to jump in the water. And now, if she left him there, he would think that he had seen someone drown, and that was a really awful thing to let someone else believe.

SO. She let equal amounts of trepidation and guilt float her up to the surface. Her head broke out of the water, short yellow hair slicked back like a duckling's. The man was yelling, so she sipped in a quick breath and chirped out to him. "I'm okay!"

He almost jumped for joy when he heard a voice across the water.
Thank goodness. The woman had not drowned. Not many times before did Dax feel such relief.
With fast strokes he swam towards her until he coukd see the blonde hair in the light of the moon.
"Are you really okay? I thought you drowned. You gave me a huge scare!"
Why did he care about some random stranger who was dumb enough to go for a night swim?
Dax wasn't sure but it felt right.

He sort of water-charged toward her, and she treaded water hard to just...keep some distance! Marybeth did not like strangers to come up when she was swimming! But she tried to smile, snorting some drips of water off her nose. "Sorry. I'm okay, I promise, just...swimming!" And not a vampire!

When he finally reached her Dax could see that it was a woman who was a little older than him and she didn't seem to be in trouble at all but her skin was very white. Maybe that was why she swam after sun down.
"You're okay, good! But why are you swimming out here alone after the sun set? That seems a bit dangerous?"
Little did he know that it wasn't her who was in danger.

Dax kept treading water which was considerably harder than usual thanks to his long pants.

It was hard to shrug when you were swimming. She gawked back at him, her head tilting, and tried to tell if he was angry. "There's...um, I don't think it's dangerous." Nothing would bother her here in the lake, or really anyone who went swimming. "I'm sorry I made you jump in, though. Are you camping?"

Dax was close enough now to go into floating mode rather than paddling and wasting a whole lot of energy. It was the strangest thing. This woman acted like swimming after dark in a national park...alone...as a female...was the safest thing and most normal thing to do.
Maybe it was for her.
"No...I just hiked in and stayed...just sat up there on the rock face to clear my head, you know?"
Maybe he was disturbing her? Now that it was clear that she wasn't in trouble.
"I'd better get back to the shore. I left my jeans on. Sorry that I've bothered you again."

She did know. Nature was great for untangling what was going on in your head. Poor man, he had bad having a rough day and then he jumped in the lake in all his clothes. She tried to shrug again, which didn't work, and then wondered what else to do. "It's okay. I hope your pants dry out quick!"

She...could keep swimming, she guessed, and maybe disappear a little before he reached the shore! Not her worst random run-in, in the long run.

"Oh..okay." He said a little confused. So she was going to keep swimming. That was her choice but he needed to get out and take off those heavy wet jeans.
"Be careful."
He said before he swam back to the shore and peeled out of the wet cloth.
Water was streaming down his legs.
No wringing it out could get enough out. So he'd probably hike out in his boxers but for now he just sat there, shaking his head at what had just happened.