34 The Mountaineer 
mountain. It would be necessary to blaze a trail through 
very rough country, and as one of the objects of the club is 
to open new country by means of trails, this was one of the 
greatest things accomplished this summer. 
The men, doctors, lawyers, professors, and men of the 
most sedentary occupations in town, made splendid woods- 
men, and forming in a long line looked quite formidable with 
alpenstocks bristling, hand axes gleaming and heavy packs 
on their backs. The horses followed, loaded with commissary 
supplies, and the line of women, twenty-five in number, wear- 
ing packs containing their sleeping bags, brought up the rear. 
The trail branches from the Government trail bevond Buck 
Creek Pass and extends southwest to the Suiattle River, cross- 
ing that and the Chocolate River, and leading on to timber 
line. Some of the country traversed is the most unfrequented 
and little known in the state. Our trail should be valuable 
for general use. Trail-making was slow, and when we left the 
Government trail there was a discouraging drop of 2,000 feet; 
but the forest was beautiful, the air like wine, and were we 
not on our way to the much-anticipated summit? So in spite 
of hard work, the day was a memorable one. At the Suiattle 
Photo by A. Hl. Cruse 
MOUNTAINEERS CROSSING THE SUIATTLE 
River a fallen tree made a foot bridge and the party crossed, 
but found it necessary to leave the pack animals. We went 
into camp just across the river (3,800 feet altitude), the men 
completing their strenuous day by dividing the commissary 
and adding it to their already heavy packs. 
