130 CAMP-FIRES IN THE CANADIAN ROCKIES 



The foregoing " appreciation " is in no sense a di- 

 gression, for Charlie Smith was far more interesting 

 and noteworthy than any of the mountains up which he 

 led me. 



Every sportsman knows that the occasions where four 

 men can profitably hunt together are few and far be- 

 tween. Mr. Phillips usually went out with Mack Nor- 

 boe. John Norboe made various special scouting trips 

 for the general welfare, and Charlie Smith and I worked 

 together. After the great day with goats, on Phillips 

 Peak, we devoted our energies to hunting for grizzly 

 bears; and in quest of them we went into all sorts of 

 places. Immediately after camping in Avalanche Val- 

 ley, our first care was to hunt down the valley, through 

 the ribbon of green timber, six miles or so straight away 

 to the base of Roth Mountain; and although we found 

 about a dozen or fifteen rubbing-trees, where bears had 

 stood up to scratch their backs, we saw no bears. 



Continuously we watched the open ground of the 

 " slides " for bears feeding; and as often as we could 

 manage it, we climbed to some new summit, in order to 

 view a new basin, new rock walls, more slides, and more 

 new country far beyond. In such a region as that is, to 

 hunt is to climb; and to climb is usually to go above 

 timber-line before you stop. 



I was frequently surprised by the differences between 

 mountain sides and summits that one would naturally 

 expect to find alike. Take False Notch, for instance, 

 about two miles above Camp Hornaday, which came 

 about through my initiative. 



