172 TRUE BEAR STORIES. 



except along the creek and on the trail a 

 horse cannot be ridden through it. The 

 problem of how to catch a bear in such a 

 place was not solved, because the bear cut 

 short its consideration by marching past 

 the camp and lumbering down the creek 

 bed toward the Alder Creek Canyon and the 

 Sespe country. The correspondent stood 

 upon the sandstone ledge as he went by, 

 and yelled at him, but he did not quicken 

 his pace. 



When it became evident that the bear 

 was bound for the Sespe, the horses were 

 saddled. Balaam the Burro was concealed 

 under a mountainous pack, and the inarch 

 was resumed over the Alder Creek trail to 

 the deep gorge through which the Sespe 

 River runs. The man who made the Alder 

 Creek trail was not born to build roads. 

 He laid it out right over the top of a high 

 and steep mountain, when by making a 

 slight detour, he could have avoided a diffi 

 cult and unnecessary climb. In the broil 

 ing hot sun of a breezeless day in June, 



