54 THE ADVENTURES OF A NATURE GUIDE 



with soft white snow, I plunged down into the 

 cloud. After enjoying the novelty for a few min- 

 utes I climbed out of the snowstorm again and 

 then once more descended into it. As the mountain- 

 side was comparatively unbroken I walked along 

 the upper edge of the cloud for some distance. Two 

 or three times this fluffy mass swelled and rose 

 slightly above me and then settled easily back. In 

 the head of a gulch cloud swells rose slightly higher 

 than out in the main sea. I climbed down into 

 them a short distance, thinking to cross the hidden 

 canon, but, finding it too steep-walled, climbed out 

 again. 



As I emerged from the gulch I saw, near by, a 

 huge grizzly bear sunning himself on a cliff that 

 rose a few feet out of the cloud into the sunshine. 

 He, like myself, appeared greatly interested in the 

 slow rise and fall and ragged outline of the storm 

 cloud. He was all attention to every new move- 

 ment near him. On scenting me he stared for a 

 moment, as if thinking: "Where on earth did he 

 come from ?" Then he stepped overboard into the 

 clouds. 



I camped that night beside a clump of storm- 

 battered trees that marked the upper limit of the 

 forest. In the morning all was clear. The cloud 

 sea of the day before had rolled silently away. 

 Along the mountainside the ragged edge of snow 

 stretched for miles. Above it barren, rocky peaks 

 rose in a great mountain desert. Below, all was 



