Cameron Lake, Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta

Rocky Mountains Photos: Morning, Cameron Lake,
Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta

This photograph of Cameron Lake, with a fresh coat of autumn snow and the sun lighting up the nearby summits, is an example of why you never want to go with me when I'm photographing landscapes.

It was 1977, and I was a seasonal forestry technician for the U.S. Forest Service at the Libby Ranger District on the Kootenai National Forest in northwest Montana. My buddy and co-worker Craig and I were on a trip to Glacier National Park, and we decided to veer up into Canada to see a little of the Canadian Rockies. We slept overnight in the car, waking to a clear sky and new snow. Normal people would have stayed in a nice, warm motel, but we were low paid seasonal Forest Service workers, trying to establish our young careers. Normal campers would also have either stayed in their warm sleeping bags until the temperature rose a few degrees, or at least would have scurried into a local restauraunt for a hot meal.

To this day I'm glad we're not 'normal' people, or at least I'm not. Otherwise this photograph would not have been made, at least not by me. Instead of sleeping in, we jumped from our sleeping bags, drove up to the lake, and I made this photo. Our stomachs were growling, but too bad. First things first, especially when you're in the Canadian Rockies for the first time, and the conditions are gorgeous and you're so excited you don't even care about an empty stomach. Well, you don't care enough, I mean.

Several hours later we finally pulled off to the side of the road and cooked scrambled eggs and bacon on the Coleman stove. Until then we existed on an early-morning diet of caramels, which Craig would use in subsequent years to needle me as much as possible. For myself I must say that it was a number of years before I could even eat caramels again, although fortunately I did finally come to my senses in that regard.