Mar. 1899. EXPEDITION TO THE OLYMPIC MOUNTAINS ELLIOT. 243 



hundred; but I think it underrated the elevation, as I had noticed 

 it was not so accurate when tested with known heights, as it had 

 originally been. Our first camp was near the borders of Happy Lake, 

 but the mosquitoes were so numerous and extra ferocious that we 

 were obliged next morning to move to a locality about three quarters 

 of a mile away, where a level place sufficiently large was found, 

 on which to pitch our tents. This was not by any means an 

 unusual occurrence in our journeying through these mountains. 

 They were so exceedingly steep, and their sides so broken up by 

 ravines, landslides, and every kind of obstruction inimical to level 

 ground and peaceful progress, that places suitable as sites for tents 

 were not easy to find. The accompanying views give a very good 

 idea of the appearance of Happy Lake, and of the first location 

 of our camp in the vicinity. Some elk signs had been seen in our 

 wandering about the neighboring "hog-backs" and peaks, and in 

 one spot was plainly visible, where four of the animals, affrighted 

 at some object or sound, had dashed down the almost perpendicular 

 side of the mountain into the depths below. So steep was this descent 

 that none of us would have cared to attempt it, but fear may at times 

 carry animals in safety through perils, which if dared in cold blood, 

 would have probably caused their destruction. 



We were nearly three weeks at this camp, during which time we 

 were engaged cutting a trail farther into the mountains, and hunting 

 and exploring their valleys and summits. Flowers of all kinds and 

 hues were blooming in profusion about us, and certain tracts were 

 a mass of one solid brilliant color, as though laid out by the 

 hand of some skillful gardener. Our tents were pitched on the 

 edge of a ravine, at the bottom of which flowed the waters of 

 Happy Lake on their way to the sea, and across this and over the 

 ridge of the Storm King range, rising above Lake Crescent, we 

 could see on a clear day the waters of Fuca Straits, with the ships 

 sailing from or to the Pacific, and the island of Vancouver beyond, 

 with its surface broken by hills and high mountain ranges. South of 

 the camp rose a lofty "hog-back," from whose crest could be ob- 

 tained a fine view to the north and south. This ridge terminated 

 in a steep peak towards the west, from which one looked down intp 

 the yawning depths beneath. 



Nothing is gradual in these mountains, extremes are always pres- 

 ent. Everything seems to stand on one end like the trees, and the soil 

 is only kept from tumbling into the valleys by the rocks, which seem 

 every moment about to lose their hold and dash into the abysses below 

 them. Looking south from this "hog-back," across the intervening 



