34. The Mountaineer 
by the order to march three abreast, a device used to excellent advan- 
tage on the easier parts of the climb next day. Story and jest could 
now pass from line to line, and excepting during halts, when widening 
views behind us gave the measure of our ascent, we could almost 
forget the two thousand feet we had to climb. 
The summit of the pass was crowned with a wide snowfield where 
nestled a half-frozen lakelet of brightest blue. Just over the western 
side, overlooking Queets Basin, we found a warm ridge of rock for 
our nooning. The most glorious prospect we as yet had seen was 
before us—the central, culminating group of the Olympic Range, its 
flanks hardly more than a mile away. Above its dark crags,: its 
luminous snowfields and glaciers, rose the white, three-peaked crown of 
Olympus. Directly in front of us lay the whole extent of the Humes 
Glacier. from the névé below Blizzard Pass to the brown-veined, blue- 
ereviced, precipitous face, cleft by a bold, outstanding ridge of rock. 
A beautiful parkland stretched below the zone of snow and ice, with 
scattered groups of conifers and openings of tender green; and farther 
beyond, towards the southwest, opened the blue vista of the Queets 
Valley with its interlacing, forested hills. 
A short descent over snowfields brought us to a wonderful flower 
garden. Erythronium lilies first appeared, budding through lingering 
patches of snow as if impatient for spring and sunshine; alpine phlox 
bloomed on dry, rocky slopes; glowing patches of buttercups or pale 
anemones brightened marshy bottoms; modest veronica, fragrant 
no such wealth of blossoms had we seen else- 
violets of daintiest blue 
where in our Olympie wanderings. 
So beautiful was the whole basin that we more than ever re- 
gretted that weather conditions made it impossible to establish there 
vur permanent quarters. Temporary camp, though steep and many- 
storied, was surprisingly spacious and comfortable compared with the 
bleak, unsheltered spot experience had taught us to expect. The warm, 
southerly slope was covered with a thick growth of heather, a splendid 
foundation for most luxurious bough beds. Alpine hemlock and fir, 
with here and there a mountain pine and graceful Alaska cedar, grew 
in open stands upon sloping benches or formed a close cover on the 
steep sides of glacial canyons. Near by, the stream flowing down from 
the pass plunged into its deepening canyon in a splendid waterfall. 
Rhododendrons were in bloom, violets and anemones decked the 
meadows, and the air was soft and warm even though snow and ice 
pressed so close. Our eastern horizon was closed by Mount Queets 
with its fine glacier, our western by the face of the Humes Glacier, a 
magnificent wall of blue seracs. That sculptured precipice of ice 
with the sunset glowing in rose and gold behind it will long linger in 
our memories as one of the most beautiful pictures of the summer. 
