CHAPTER X 



ALONE ON A MOUNTAIN 



Getting Next to Nature — Waterfall Notch — The Pika at Home — 

 Ground - Squirrels and Grizzly Bears — Temptation Goats — 

 Variations between Summits — Fool-Hens and Ptarmigan — Dwarf 

 Spruces — Bull River — Mule-Deer Grounds — Berries of the Moun- 

 tains — Charlie Smith Finds Grizzly-Bear Signs. 



*'0, puny Man, wouldst thou atone 

 For years of swelling ego heart, 

 Go, tread the mountain-top alone. 

 And learn how very small thou art!" 



— The Spell of the Mountains. 



If you would get next the soul of Nature, go to meet 

 her as you call upon your sweetheart, — alone. There 

 are times when the presence of one's dearest friend is a 

 distraction. If you would feel the mystic Spell of the 

 Mountains, go into them as Moses did when he met God 

 and received The Law, — alone. If you would know 

 what it is to feel so awed by the panorama of the world 

 that you lose half your desire to find killable game, and 

 for a few hours cease to be a predatory animal, climb a 

 fine mountain all alone. In that way one sees things and 

 feels things that are veiled by the presence of any other 

 human being. The moral uplift that one feels when 

 alone on a wild prairie is magnified five times on a first- 

 class mountain. 



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