of making some snow-measurements. The nature 

 of my work for the State required the closest ob- 

 servation of the character and extent of the snow 

 in the mountains. I hoped to get to Grand Lake 

 for the night, but I was on the east side of the 

 range, and Grand Lake was on the west. Along 

 the twenty-five miles of trail there was only wil- 

 derness, without a single house. The trail was 

 steep and the snow very soft. Five hours were 

 spent in gaining timber-line, which was only six 

 miles from my starting-place, but four thousand 

 feet above it. Rising in bold grandeur above me 

 was the summit of Long's Peak, and this, with 

 the great hills of drifted snow, out of which here 

 and there a dwarfed and distorted tree thrust its 

 top, made timber-line seem weird and lonely. 



From this point the trail wound for six miles 

 across bleak heights before it came down to tim- 

 ber on the other side of the range. I set forward 

 as rapidly as possible, for the northern sky looked 

 stormy. I must not only climb up fifteen hun- 

 dred feet, but must also skirt the icy edges of 

 several precipices in order to gain the summit. 

 My friends had warned me that the trip was a 



15 



