16 The Mountaineer 
It led through the great spectral forest, the wide table-land, 
where once a mighty living forest stood, but now there are only 
silvery trunks and ghost-like arms with dust and ashes under- 
neath, a region well-night majestic in its desolation; or through 
the open forest of the yellow pine and larch, with the straw- 
berry patches in the grass, over a forest-grown lava flow until 
it dropped down between the last green hills, along the last 
clear trout stream to the rolling waters of the Columbia. 
And the camps were quite as varied as the trails, now 
beside a glacial river, then along a erystal stream, in among 
the fallen timber, in the flowers, under trees, or in the open, 
by a lake or near a hilltop. where no man had camped before 
us, where the Indian had his tepee, or the ranger and the 
rancher built a cabin and then left it. 
The early part of 
the trip led east in 
the upper part of the 
Cowlitz valley along 
the old Yakima In- 
dian trail. Suceces- 
sive camps were made 
at Bear Prairie near 
the Tatoosh range at 
the head of Skate 
Creek, on the banks 
of the Cowlitz, at the 
Clear Fork and in 
Cowlitz Pass. The 
Cowlitz, where we 
crossed it near Lewis, 
is a broad, smooth, 
eray river, one of 
the largest glacial 
streams in the state. 
It is erossed by a 
ferry with overhead 
cable where free rides 
furnished an even- 
inge’s amusement. 
Cowlitz Pass, unlike 
most mountain pass- 
es, covers a large 
Photograph by H. B. Hinman 
TIETON CREEK 
