The Days of a Man 1894 



a majestic vulture with wing spread of from nine 

 to ten feet. 



lake During the summer of 1894 we na d another fine 



Tabof outing which took us to Lake Tahoe, the scene of 

 some of my fishing in 1880. This magnificent body 

 of water, very deep, very clear, and very cold, 

 about twenty-five miles long by twelve wide, is the 

 jewel of the Sierra. Our first stop was at Emerald 

 Bay, an exquisite inlet below a pretty waterfall; 

 our next at Glen Alpine Springs, higher up in the 

 range, above the beautiful pine-embowered Fallen 

 Leaf Lake, a deep basin walled in strikingly by high 

 glacial moraines. Glen Alpine itself is a rugged, 

 rock-bound valley with a fine carbonated spring. 

 From there we climbed Mount Tallac, which rises 

 as a frost-bitten precipice on the side toward Tahoe, 

 but offers a long, even slope behind. Its summit 

 commands superb and unusual views on the one 

 hand the broad blue expanse of the great lake far 

 Desolation below, on the other Desolation Valley, most ap- 

 v alley and propriatelv named, an amazing wilderness of bare 



Heather i- i j> i i r j r i 



Lake slicken granite, nobly crowned by Pyramid Peak; 



and in the green intervening area a score of small, 

 sparkling, sapphire-colored tarns. Of these, Heather 

 Lake the highest and most picturesque lies 

 near timber line. 



One day Mrs. Jordan (on horseback) and I (on 

 foot) made the circuit of the glen, taking a wide 

 detour around on the southern ridge over to Deso- 

 lation, then along and beyond the head of Heather, 

 returning to the springs by the ragged north wall, 

 at that time well-nigh inaccessible for horses. This 

 was one of the most trying trips I have ever under- 

 taken, and the pony, mountain-bred though he was, 



C 520 ] 



