I started off 2008 with a backpacking trip at Big Bend National Park. I did the Outer Mountain Loop, a 30 mile route incorporating both alpine and desert terrain. This backpacking route is one of the most strenuous in the park and is impossible in summer due to heat and lack of water. Opportunities for landscape photography were everywhere, but I was specifically looking to shoot wildlife. There was plenty of water at Dodson Creek and a confirmed bear sighting in the vicinity fueled my motivation.
As it would figure, I spent a lot of time taking pics of deer and not hiking on the first two days. On the morning of day three, I had only made 10 miles progress and had to make a decision to either turn around or hike 20 miles to complete the route, with extreme elevation change for Texas as an additional challenge. I chose the latter. I stowed my boat anchor of a camera in my pack so that I could maximize my progress, and at sunset I still had about three hours of hiking to go. Within two miles of the visitor center, and very exhausted, I encountered a mountain lion on the trail. Its eyes glowed yellow in the light of my headlamp and it let out the deepest growl before running off straight up the hill to the next switchback. I clanked my trekking poles at it and it continued on. The mountain lion sighting is permanently recorded in my mind with a sharpness that no camera on earth could produce. On the way out of the park I did get an image that I'm fairly proud of. It's no mountain lion or bear, but there's always next time.
