14 The Mountaineer 
cabin lies well up on the sloping side of the valley, which, 
narrow below and narrowing again above, here widens into 
a broad basin affording an extensive and wild mountain view. 
We soon left this basin and plunged into splendid woods, 
with occasional openings and vistas. Emerging in several 
hours from the forest a magnificent scene met our view. ‘To 
our left, sweeping up to its source among towering peaks, 
lay the huge Toby Glacier, the source of the creek. Well up 
in the glacier, to the southeast, rose a group of some of the 
most striking column-like seracs I have seen, which we sub- 
sequently visited and which I dubbed ‘The Temple of Karnak.” 
Our trail, which had been going south, here swung slightly 
to the southwest, traversing a steep slope overlooking the Toby 
Glacier and culminating at 7,500 feet, after a stiff climb, in 
Earl Grey’s Pass, which suggests botanically and in general 
appearance some of the higher Rainier meadows. On_ the 
farther side of the pass is Hamill Creek, leading down to Ar- 
genta, twenty-five miles away. The evident presence of bears 
was too much for our horses, which stampeded during the 
night, one of them not stopping until he reached the Earl 
Grey Camp. 
The next morning, from the summit of the pass, from 
east to southwest, we saw a sweep of unnamed and unclimbed 
summits hardly to be surpassed in Switzerland, suggesting 
features of the Monte Rosa-Lyskamm-Breithorn view from the 
Gorner Grat and of the Jungfrau group from the Scheidegg. 
To the east was the broad expanse of the Toby Glacier, to 
the southeast the towering peaks we had already seen from 
which the Glacier sweeps, and to the south one of the noblest 
mountains, bearing some of the most beautiful and pure 
glaciers, that I have ever seen. We were spellbound, watch- 
ing for hours that seemed but minutes the changing morning 
lights and shadows, the majestic repose broken by occasional 
avalanches over thousand-feet high ice walls and cliffs. Here 
are mountains worthy the steel of any climber, and here we 
hope to return, our trip this vear having been in the nature 
of a reconnaissance. 
Retracing our steps down Toby Creek, a day’s journey took 
us to the head of the North Fork, into which we had got a 
glimpse from Hammond. Here, also, high up on a precipitous 
9,000-foot ridge, we found ourselves surrounded by magnificent, 
