THE MOUNTAINEER. 



9 



It is indeed higher in appearance 

 than that. From that thrilling and 

 significant spot, Cloudy Pass, the 

 steep cone of Glacier Peak, girt with 

 glaciers, seems to surpass any other 

 peak of the state, except the great 

 king-peak of all, Rainier-Tacoma, 

 and almost rivals him. 



Glacier Peak, with Lake Chelan, 

 North Star Park, Agnes Canyon, and 

 Cloudy Pass, affords the most varied 

 and magnificent outing ground that I 

 have ever seen, and it is to be com- 

 mended to the Mountaineers as a 

 suitable place for an outing. Gla- 

 cier Peak has never been climbed 

 so far as I know, except by a party 

 of scientists under Prof. Russell some 

 years ago, by a company of miners 

 whose names I do not know, and by 

 Mr. C. E. Rusk of Chelan with a 

 single companion, last summer. 



The next great peak south of the 

 Chelan group is Mt. Stewart, the 

 most conspicuous height of the Pesh- 

 astin Spur. It presents a superb 

 aiguilleted appearance from Ellens- 

 burg and points adjacent, and is 

 nearly 10,000 feet high. It has been 

 ascended, but I can not now state 

 at what dates or by what parties 

 other than by members of the U. S. 

 Geological Survey. With its com- 

 manding location, the long line of the 

 great Cascades visible to the west, 

 the Chelan peaks to the north, and 

 the vast plains of the Yakima and 

 the maze of hills and valleys of the 

 Wenatchee to the east and south, 

 with the charming lakes at the head 

 of each of those streams, Mt. Stew- 

 art would offer also every mountain 

 attraction to a group of ambitious 

 climbers. It is easily reached from 

 the Great Northern Railway at Leav- 

 enworth. 



South of Mt. Stewart the character 

 of the mountains undergoes a change. 

 The formation becomes mainly vol- 

 canic, with frequent exposures of 

 granite and porphyry, burst asunder 

 by the intrusions of molten matter 

 from below. The general elevation 



also is much less, and but rarely there 

 is afforded the spire-like crags and 

 stupendous canons characteristic of 

 stupendous canyons characteristic of 

 gions. As a compensation for this 

 general diminution in height and 

 rugged grandeur, the two greatest 

 and grandest of the peaks of Wash- 

 ington rear their stately and solemn 

 magnificence over this tamer portion 

 of the chain. These are Rainier-Ta- 

 coma and Adams. Making with these 

 two a vast triangle is the lesser, but 

 most exquisitely beautiful St. Helens, 

 perhaps for pure beauty the finest 

 specimen of all our unrivalled peaks. 

 Heights have been variously given, 

 but we may probably give the first 

 at 14,520, the second at 12,531, the 

 third at 9,850. 



Rainier and Adams have been so 

 many times visited and described as 

 to make extended description un- 

 necessary here, as also language be- 

 comes so inadequate to describe their 

 aggregations of charms and attrac- 

 tions of every sort , One who has 

 rounded Gibraltar Rock on Rainier 

 and stood on Columbia's Crest amid 

 the fierce eddies of elemental winds; 

 or one who has stood in front of the 

 awful rampart of snow and ice and 

 rock with which the Klickitat preci- 

 pine on Adams faces the sunrise, or 

 has gazed down its sheer glistening 

 declivities from above, nearly a mile 

 of almost perpendicular distance, 

 feels almost as though he had par- 

 ticipated with the creator in viewing 

 the earth at some time when the 

 "morning stars sang together and 

 all the sons of God shouted for joy." 

 One knows then the glory of the 

 mountaineer, the unappeasable thirst 

 for quaffing from the fountains of 

 grandeur amid the eternal solitudes, 

 the fierce wanderlust of tlie primeval 

 heart, the gypsy craving for the out- 

 doors, the restless impulse to cast off 

 conventionalities and become a part 

 of those volcanic forces, those thun- 

 der gods, that smote the original 

 chaos into form. 



