Put a card in your camera for great photos

A couple of weeks ago I was slinking my way into a meadow because I had caught the “hump” of a deer through the trees.

The cardinal rule of meadows is you never just walk out into them. You stand on the edge and then look around for awhile, which is how I saw the deer.

They were bucks, not too big, with nubbins of antlers. As I walked, there was a stand of trees partially obscuring the view, and as I came around the corner the deer took a couple of leaps and then started looking to my right.

At first I wasn’t sure why, but then I saw it: A big cinnamon black bear was looking at the deer. The deer were looking at the bear. None of them were looking at me (or the boy, for that matter).

I raised the camera and rattled off a dozen or so frames with the deer looking at the bear and the bear looking at the deer. The bear then turned and looked at me. I waved my arm and it bolted.

We kept hiking for a half-mile or so and then I wondered how the picture actually turned out, so I stopped and hit the replay button.

This is what I got: NO CARD IN CAMERA.

Rats.

Now I know I’m supposed to be a professional. I know I’m supposed to always check my gear before I leave. And 95 percent of the time, I do.

But the night before, I had taken the card out of the camera because I had taken a few pictures of a pair of geese with some goslings and was considering putting the photos in the newspaper.

So the card was still back home in the computer. I had plenty of extra cards with me, but they were in the bag, with all the other camera stuff.

So I have a great memory of bear watching some deer.

Such is life.

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I was on a bushwhack the other night and I figured that every mile through the brush and downed timber is equal to about three miles of good trail. Add a little elevation and the ratio goes up. Add devil’s club and it goes up even more.

The worst bushwhack I’ve ever been on ever was up to Heaven’s Peak Lookout in Glacier Park. It took eight hours up and 7.5 hours to get down from the McDonald Creek side. Broke open a can of bear spray on that one, which is never pleasant.

Having said that, I often think about that lookout and how I would approach it again in the future. I wouldn’t go up McDonald Creek again, but would probably try it from the Camas Creek side.

That trail isn’t a lot of fun, either and requires several stream crossings, but it’s not nearly as brushy, save for one big patch of thistles along the way. One can camp at Camas Lake, and then climb up to the Lookout.

Camas Lake, however, is one of my least favorite camps in Glacier. It’s brushy in its own right and seems better suited for bears than humans.

Maybe the thing to do is drop down to Arrow Lake and camp there, which is far more pleasant.

Chris Peterson is the editor of the Hungry Horse News.