CHAPTER VI 



ON BIRD MOUNTAIN : PHOTOGRAPHING MOUNTAIN SHEEP 



A Mountain Cyclorama The Continental Divide Phillips Peak A 

 Land Unmapped and Unmeasured Mountain Altitudes along Elk 

 River Statement by Geologist McEvoy Mountain Sheep Afoot 

 Photographing Two Sheep on the Goat Rocks Sheep and Goats 

 Seen at the Same Moment. 



ON BIRD MOUNTAIN 



WE reserved for the fourth day of our stay at Goat 

 Pass a treat which was like dessert after meat. We 

 climbed to a mountain-top for a general survey of our 

 domain. 



Of the region in which we were, Phillips Peak is 

 the highest mountain; but its northern and western faces 

 are unscalable, and its southern slope too far away. Near 

 at hand, and excellent as a lookout, was the bald crest 

 of Bird Mountain, and to it we climbed, on a glorious 

 afternoon of alternating sunshine and cloud. 



The top of Bald Mountain, beside our camp, con- 

 sists of fine, decomposed shale, and the goat-trail over it 

 is wide and deep. Stepping from its soft side to the 

 steep slope of Bird Mountain is like going from an ash- 

 pile to a hill of hair mattresses. The zone between 

 timber-line and summit is thickly carpeted with a soft, 

 springy, mosslike ground-plant called mountain avens 



