io8 The Grizzly Bear 



inhospitable region, not only had the grizzlies not yet put 

 in an appearance, but we ourselves were stalled ten miles 

 below our intended destination. We had already travelled 

 some miles through snow from two to four feet deep, and 

 now, being unable to make further headway, we cut down 

 enough timber to open a clearing for our tent, unpacked 

 the horses, and sent them, with the man who drove them, 

 back to the settlements where we had hired them. 



And nowthe weather, which had been warm and pleas- 

 ant, turned suddenly bitter, and for two weeks we three 

 held our little camp against a wintry siege, and when this 

 finally was raised and pleasant days were promised, the 

 doctor^s leave of absence had expired. He therefore 

 walked out to the settlements, ordered our horses sent back 

 to us, and left for home, and the next morning, our pack 

 animals having arrived, we moved on up-stream and made 

 our intended camp. 



On our way up we saw our first bear track of the season, 

 the animal having evidently passed only the evening before, 

 and worked along the edge of a large slide, where here and 

 there there was a patch of bare ground. The next morn- 

 ing, when the packer had taken the back trail for home 

 with his horses, Coleman and myself took up the old 

 bear's trail and tried to follow it. After crossing the slide, 

 the bear had stopped several times to dig up small roots 

 and bulbs, but as there was little vegetation to speak of, 

 he had worked around toward the south side of the moun- 

 tain, where there were several other slides. It was very 

 difficult to trail him where there was no snow, and we soon 

 decided to drop the trail and strike straight for the south- 

 ern slides, thinking to find him on one or the other of them. 



