8 WAITING IN THE WILDERNESS 



beautiful columns, and many other attractive ice 

 formations. 



Farther up the slope I came upon a flock of 

 ptarmigan "white quail." They allowed me 

 to come within a few yards of them without 

 showing alarm. They were white, wore white 

 leggings, were nearly as large as prairie chickens, 

 and made a showy appearance as they walked 

 along the brown, bare earth. Three of them 

 flew a short distance and alighted on a near-by 

 snowdrift. They matched the snow so well that 

 I lost sight of them the instant they alighted. 

 A quarter of a mile below the summit of the al- 

 most level mountain top a flock of sheep watched 

 me pass within two hundred feet without alarm 

 or retreat. 



At last I stood on the very top of the Con- 

 tinental Divide and faced the noonday sun. I 

 stretched out on the bare granite with my head 

 and shoulders on the Atlantic slope and my feet 

 on the Pacific slope. I remembered reading 

 years before that one of the members of the 

 Lewis and Clark exploration party had enjoyed 

 standing for a minute with one foot on one side 

 the Missouri River and one on the other side. 

 He was standing near the top of the Continental 

 Divide where the stream began. 



I stood 12,500 feet above sea level and looked 

 back down the Atlantic slope. There were 



