AN ASCENT OF MOUNT RAINIER 



By night of the third day we reached the 

 Soda Springs on the right bank of the Nis- 

 qually, which goes roaring by, gray with mud, 

 gravel, and boulders from the caves of the 

 glaciers of Rainier, now close at hand. The 

 distance from the Soda Springs to the Camp 

 of the Clouds is about ten miles. The first 

 part of the way lies up the Nisqually Canon, 

 the bottom of which is flat in some places and 

 the walls very high and precipitous, like those 

 of the Yosemite Valley. The upper part of 

 the canon is still occupied by one of the Nis 

 qually glaciers, from which this branch of the 

 river draws its source, issuing from a cave in 

 the gray, rock-strewn snout. About a mile 

 below the glacier we had to ford the river, 

 which caused some anxiety, for the current 

 is very rapid and carried forward large boul 

 ders as well as lighter material, while its savage 

 roar is bewildering. 



At this point we left the canon, climbing 

 out of it by a steep zigzag up the old lateral 

 moraine of the glacier, which was deposited 

 when the present glacier flowed past at this 

 height, and is about eight hundred feet high. 

 It is now covered with a superb growth of 

 Picea amabilis; l so also is the corresponding 



1 Doubtless the red silver fir, now classified as Abies ama 

 bilis. [Editor.] 



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