76 The Mountaineer 
sheer above. In sunlight or deep shadow the water varied 
from light blue to deepest indigo. 
In one glade we startled a horse which, wilder than a deer, 
dashed away and at a safe distance half-circled, with arched 
neck, flowing mane and tail, curious but cautious. We wished 
in some way we could warn him of the winter snows to follow 
the Indian summer, when he would repent deserting the un- 
fortunate who had brought him into the high places. 
Towards midday we reluctantly left the lake basins and 
following down what in spring was a boisterous cascade, in 
summer a stone stairway, we again made the Big Arroyo far- 
ther up than the ford we crossed the first day. Here the fishing 
was even better than below, and enough trout were soon caught 
for lunch. The anglers lingered while the others pushed on 
up stream and made camp in the last fringe of timber at the 
head of the canyon, 11,000 feet elevation. The anglers soon 
followed, having easily caught the more generous limit allowed 
here of fifty trout each, although handicapped by their packs. 
Trout left over were taken to the next camp, our decreasing 
provisions making their weight less noticeable. 
The following morning we went through the Nine Lake 
basin in search of the pass. Our compass and map designated 
a slight sag in the rim just above, although tempting defiles 
shadowed by high walls lay on either side. Several of the party 
reconnoitered to the right, while others made for the rim in 
front, which proved correct as the pass to the right led into 
another watershed. Taking heavy packs over a 12,000 foot 
pass, up shifting rock and down a corrugated snow slope, was 
a severe test, but no one flinched and soon we were in the am- 
phitheatre or cirque at the head of the Kern-Kaweah and after 
noon we made camp where the creek from Milestone came cas- 
eading down the canyon wall. 
The following morning we went up the creek to Colby 
Pass, named for the Sierra Club seeretary who had discovered 
this, the only feasible route for a future pack animal trail 
connecting the two great canyons of the King and Kern. Be- 
low the Pass to the north lay the small lakes at the head of 
Roaring River. 
Following up the ridge to the east, keeping close to the 
edge where we could look down perpendicular walls with spires 
and minarets of thinly weathered rock jutting out and forming 
