The Mountaineer 35 
The feature of this camp was the electrical storm and down- 
pour of rain. It was a weird experience to lie on the ground 
some half hundred miles from civilization, with no shelter but 
your sleeping bag, and listen to the roll of the great thunder ; 
to see the whole sky suddenly illuminated by the flash of light- 
ning and the great tree tops silhouetted against its brightness. 
Occupants of really waterproof sleeping bags considered the 
electrical display most spectacular and wonderful; however, 
sertain members whose bags failed to turn water were not 
so enthusiastic, and dubbed it “Camp Rain-in-the-Face.” 
The storm cleared in the morning, and after a brief drying- 
out process, we were again on our way. We followed the river 
a short distance, then climbed a ridge and descended to the 
Chocolate River. We crossed this and again climbed another 
ridge, and after sundry twistings and turnings we found our 
selves following an old goat trail, skirting a cliff, from which 
we could look upon the dirty and discolored wastes of the 
Chocolate Glacier. Leaving this trail we went south to the 
camping site selected by our scouts, having blazed a trail from 
the Suiattle to timberline. 
Here we found a splendid camping site, wonderful in 
a rolling grassy lawn with groups of our old 
scenic beauty 
friend of Rainier (pinus contorta) dwarfed and stunted by 
the cold breath of the great glaciers from the slopes of our 
mountain which loomed white, cold and majestic before us. 
Lesser peaks rose in every direction. Particularly noticeable 
was a cluster of ten sharp pinnacles off to the south, whose 
needle points seemed literaliy to pierce the sky. As we stood 
watching the lights at sunset it seemed that we who were 
privileged to stand in this higher world were indeed blessed 
above all others. But the glow died and leaving the gray 
peaks we returned to draw lunches and prepare for the night, 
and as the call was to sound at 3:30 a. m., retired early. 
We had found comfortable sleeping places, and had not 
hideous dreams of seeing the line of people starting off while 
you could not get your boots on intruded themselves, the night 
would have been pleasant. But when the morning whistle 
sounded we crawled out of our bags and made hasty prepar- 
ations for the day. Shivering with cold and excitement, our 
fingers fumbled as they tried to manipulate shoe strings which, 
in the dark, seemed possessed of evil spirits. An urgent call 
