Across the High Sierras 



By Mark Daniels 



It is a mass of disintegrating granite about the 



FLORENCE PEAK is really the outpost on the trail 

 across the high Sierra which marks the entrance to 

 another land where proportions are strange and dif- 

 lerent 



base of which are 

 rugged fields of 

 talus and mile-long 

 slopes of granite 

 sand. 



At its base 

 nestles Franklin 

 Lake, a sapphire 

 sheet of crystal 

 water fed by the 

 melting snows on 

 the north side of 

 the peak. 



The trail lead- 

 ing to Franklin 

 Pass, which is to 

 the left of the 

 Peak, passes 

 through some 

 strange and weird 

 scenes which are 

 well calculated to 

 put the traveler in 

 the proper frame 

 of mind for appre- 

 ciating the scene 

 from the summit. 

 There are several 

 groves of foxtail 

 pine whose russet 

 trunks and spectre- 

 like branches, when 

 silhouetted against 

 the western sky, 

 seem to speak of 

 an austerity that 

 shall fall upon him 

 who travels their 

 way, like the pall 

 of a shroud. The 

 entire landscape 

 above the timber 

 line is one of magnificent desolation and tremendous dis- 

 tances. From the summit at the Pass, the Great Western 

 Divide bursts upon the view with shocking suddenness, 

 and beyond it can be seen the real divide which constitutes 

 the crest of the high Sierra. There are few passes in the 

 684 



Photograph by Mark Daniels. 



FLORENCE PEAK ON THE GREAT WESTERN DIVIDE 



It is a bit confusing to find this peak and adjacent ones named as part of the Great Western Divide, 

 but that is what they were called before the higher crests of the Sierra Nevada were discovered. 



western mountains from wdiich so commanding a view 

 can be had as from Franklin Pass on the northern shoul- 

 der of Florence Peak. 



The district surrounding Florence Peak is exposed 



and l.iarren granite 

 which reflects the 

 light in all direc- 

 tions. If one is to 

 travel for any 

 length of time in 

 this kind (jf coun- 

 try dark glasses are 

 almost as necessary 

 as in traversing 

 snow-fields. John 

 Muir named the 

 Sierra Nevada 

 " The Range of 

 Light." H e w a s 

 prompted to do so 

 bv the strange dif- 

 fused light that is 

 ever present in the 

 davtime in districts 

 similar to the Flor- 

 i nee Peak country. 

 The face of the cliff 

 shown in the pict- 

 ure is in deep 

 shadow, yet there 

 is sufficient dififused 

 light to bring out 

 all of the detail 

 on a photographic 

 l)late. 



The trail swings 

 ofl: to the north- 

 east from Franklin 

 Pass and traverses 

 several miles of 

 shifting, coarse, 

 granite sand before 

 it drops into the 

 h e a d-waters o f 

 Rattlesnake Creek. 

 I'rom the latter 

 point on, until the Ijreak of the Great Kern River Canyon 

 is reached, the trail lies between towering walls of granite 

 almost identical in character to the north side of Florence 

 Peak, and even in the shadows beneath the trees, the 

 amount of dififused light is quite apparent. 



