Leon Turnbull Photography

The deer returned in the morning. Not just a couple this time, there were more than seven now. The same one from the previous evening was there and was the first into my camp. She liked to lick my pee. Others came into my camp as well, but some stayed in the meadow. A more aggressive one kicked out my most friendly girl from licking my pee. When another deer came up to get a lick, it kicked her in the face. What a mean deer! They were now all over my camp while I was trying to get ready to leave. They tried to get in my food but of course I did not allow that. One of them was licking my camera which I had set up on my tripod. I did not want them to “accidentally” knock it down so I laid down the camera and tripod on top of my tripod case (note: the heavy camera on top of the case) I went to get my water which was about 20 feet away. This was the opportunity they had been waiting for. I heard a big noise, looked up and saw my camera and tripod now a couple feet away flipped over, and a deer taking off like lightning into the forest. It took me a few seconds to understand what happened. My tripod case was gone! The thief stole my tripod case! I am pretty sure it was the mean one, I cannot prove it, but I would bet on it. I went into the woods to look for it, hoping that the deer dropped it. I could not find it. When I returned to camp, another deer was trying to make off with my camera case! I yelled at it, and thankfully it dropped the camera case. These are not innocent little deer here. They are a band of thieves! I am sure the mean deer has a stash of campers’ items hidden away somewhere in the forest. Look what I got today, honey? Stupid humans. I don’t think I will ever trust a deer again. For the rest of this trip I made sure I had everything stashed away in my tent whenever I left camp. Of all the things they could have taken, the tripod case was a minor item. However, I had to be careful because my tripod legs unscrew easily and I have lost one or two of them before which is why I always keep the tripod in the case. If they had gotten off with the camera case that would’ve been bad because I had some important items in it including my expensive filter. Or what if they took one of my hiking shoes? How awful would that be!

I left camp early because I had enough of the deer. They were still in camp when I left. It is a 4 mile hike to Emerald Lake. I arrived about noon, set up camp and made my lunch. I relaxed in the afternoon, trying to find what little shade there was.

At 3PM I started my afternoon hike. I wanted to hike to Sapphire Lake and beyond. I thought there would be some waterfalls at Sapphire Lake but it turned out there was nothing significant. There was a big one, however, at the end of Sapphire Lake but snow lingers well into late spring. The last satellite image I saw was before the last snow storm and there was still a lot of snow. The route would be impossible if there was snow. There are too many dangerous drop-offs along the lake. However, the route was free of snow! I was surprised. I was not expecting to make it at all. The trail is not official or on any maps but it is a good one (overgrown though). At the end of the lake I got off the trail and headed over to the waterfalls. It became extremely brushy as I approached the waterfall but I made it. I was ecstatic!

The lower section of Mirror Lake Falls is 51 ft. high (shown here). It is absolutely gorgeous. There is a middle and upper tier as well but it seemed too brushy and I was out of time as well. At least I got a decent photo of the middle tier. This waterfall made my entire trip. I returned to camp at sunset, completely exhausted. Day two is over. Day three is about to begin.

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