The sun was low and setting fast, and I was trying to set up and shoot from as many different spots along the bluff as I could while there was still color and light. So maybe I got a little careless or maybe it was just bad luck, but when I set up the tripod on a rock ledge next to the shore, one leg was on a big, flat rock that looked fine and stable, but when I stepped on it, it wobbled and sent the tripod with my camera on top of it toppling over onto the sloping rock and towards the water below. Luckily, I was able to grab one leg of the tripod and soften the landing somewhat and keep the whole rig from sinking into the lake and down into its depths to the bottom of the submerged bluff, however far down that might be. Still the gear crashed onto the ledge pretty hard, and the lens got scuffed some, although it seems to be working ok, and the camera itself seems not to have been marked at all.

After ruining a camera and lens to a slip in a creek bed about a year and a half ago, I'd say I came out of this close call pretty lucky.