TIMBER-LINE AND SUMMIT 137 



When Charlie and I reached the bottom of the basin, 

 we examined the goat's pathway, and, as we expected, 

 found it not so nearly perpendicular as it looked from in 

 front. The angle of it seemed to be about forty-five de- 

 grees from perpendicular. The wonder was not that the 

 goat managed to descend in safety over a course on which 

 a man could not have travelled ten feet, but that it came 

 down with such contemptuous indifference and ease. 



I am tempted to make note of one other climb that 

 Charlie Smith and I enjoyed together, still in quest of 

 new grounds and grizzly bears. To me the wonders of 

 it, and the weirdness of it, never will be forgotten while 

 I live. 



Around the head of Avalanche Creek there was a 

 regular nest of " notches " and " divides," and " passes " 

 by courtesy so called. We explored each one of them, 

 always climbing, and although we found little killable 

 big game, we were so royally entertained by that grand 

 picture-book of Nature that we felt richly repaid. From 

 first to last I climbed about fifteen mountains in that 

 country, and next to the grandeur of the scenery, its most 

 striking feature was the marvellous diversity of Nature's 

 handiwork. On no two mountains did we find the vege- 

 tation, the ground and the rocks really alike; and this 

 diversification continued to the very last hour of the 

 trip. 



Bear with me a moment, and I will set down, as in 

 a catalogue, the salient features of interest that one 

 passes through, or over, in the course of one day's climb 

 in that Wonderland. I take them all from the notes of 



