1 82 CAMP-FIRES IN THE CANADIAN ROCKIES 



side of what appeared to be a perfectly smooth wall of 

 rock several hundred feet high. 



After that came three or four pictures of goats taken 

 in timber, on level ground, and amid surroundings that 

 seemed more suitable for white-tailed deer than crag- 

 climbing goats. The distance was so great that it was 

 only when the negatives were much enlarged that the 

 goats became interesting. 



On both sides of our ideally beautiful camp in the 

 head of Avalanche Valley, the mountains rose steeply 

 and far. First came the roof slopes, a mile from bottom 

 to top, their faces seamed with parallel " slides " and 

 ribbed with the ridges of rock and points of moss-green 

 timber that climbed up between them. Above all that 

 rose the long stretches of crag and rock wall, crowned 

 by peak, " dome," and " saddle." 



From bottom to top we scanned the slide-ways for 

 grizzly bears feeding on berries, or digging roots. We 

 watched the grassy belt just below the cliff-foot for 

 mountain sheep. Goats we saw up there, daily, in little 

 groups of three to five; but we had resolutely drawn our 

 firing-line at three goats each. 



But there was one old billy who fascinated us all. 

 When we looked out of our tents on our first morning 

 in that camp, he was calmly lying upon a ledge at the foot 

 of the cliff immediately above us, near a bank of per- 

 petual snow. For two days he remained there, at the 

 same elevation, moving neither north nor south more 

 than three hundred yards. When hungry, he came 

 down to the foot of the cliff and fed on the tender plants 



