Bert’s Last Adventure

Today my friend and fellow photographer, Bert Daniels, was laid to rest on a hilltop in Puyallup. I knew Bert from the Mountaineers where he was very involved in many of the group’s activities, including photography. He was a regular fixture at our monthly Mountaineer photography meetings. Besides being a photographer, he was also a fine engineer who formerly worked at JPL and Boeing.

Mostly, though, Bert was an outdoorsmen in the truest sense of the word. He loved the outdoors and embarked on many adventures with the Mountaineers. He had a story for every occasion, and listening to him over the years, I swear he must have climbed every peak in Washington State. He loved nature –  being in it, photographing it, and living it. He owned in a house in the woods, with a small duck pond in his front yard. He often told us how he took care of these ducks, and got to know the same breeding pair that returned each year.

I’ve chosen the accompanying photo to honor Bert. It’s from a photo trip we took together last spring to Fir Island and Deception Pass State Park. On that trip, as our group walked along the southern beach along Deception Pass, we noticed several eagles far overhead in a tree. Everyone took photos, of course. Later, at a Mountaineers’ meeting, we shared some of those photos. Bert’s image of these same eagles is better than mine is. He had the sense to move down the beach some, to get a better angle.

His passing was unexpected. Just two weeks ago, he attended one of our photo meetings, and we had both signed up to go on a photo tour of the LeMay car museum next Saturday. I understand he died of natural causes, working outside his house, in the nature he loved. I will miss him.