30 THE SPORTSMAN’S AND TOURIST’S GUIDE. 
which we recognized as the outlet of the 
lake, and found it to be the branch known 
as the Roaring Fork of the Blue. Turn- 
ing up its course the climbing was very 
steep and rough. ‘The stream plunges 
down the descent in an almost unbroken 
sheet of foam, among great black rocks 
overhung with fringes of black alder and 
birch. We were told that the lake was 
two miles from the river, but we conclud- 
ed that the distance was five or six miles. 
Before us was a great amphitheatre in 
the wildest portion of that raggedest of 
ranges—the Blue River spur, We were 
nearly up to the snow level, and the stu- 
pendous, black faces of the cliffs, the 
spires, and needles and pinnacles of the 
splintered summits seemed almost within 
reach. At length the way became so 
steep and difficult that horses could go 
no further; the canyon closed in; but a 
couple of footmen, clambering up over 
the rocks, soon shouted back ‘‘ Eureka!” 
So we camped in a grove of aspens, and 
turned our animals loose in the most 
beautiful of little meadows of timothy, 
clover, and wild oats up to their mid- 
sides. After dinner we went up to the 
lake, and soon caught all the fish we could 
use. But in exploring the solitude we 
found that a Crusoe had already fixed 
his habitation under the lee of a mon- 
There 
was his rude hut, provisions, a few tools, 
skins of animals and feathers of birds. 
Moored at the water’s edge was a raft 
to fish from, withits complement of rods 
and lines, a floating fish-pond, and, 
hauled up on the rocks, a Bond patent 
boat. The owner of all this primitive 
wealth was invisible, but it was plain 
that his business was to fish for profit. 
Exploring further we discovered that a 
trail led across the point of hills from the 
strous rock on the lake shore. 
above the mouth of the creek, and then 
we understood the two miles distance. 
Over that trail the Bond boat had been 
packed on a horse or mule. From the 
outlet of the lake the stream falls thirty 
feet in each hundred for five hundred or 
six hundred feet, roaring and foaming 
among immense rocks and rafts of drift- 
wood. ‘There are falls of ten or twelve 
feet in places, though the water is so di- 
vided and broken up into different streams 
and varying leaps that the trout ascend 
and descend without trouble. In this 
water we found the best sport and the 
finest fish, some of them weighing up to 
a couple of pounds each, and presenting 
the most brilliant carmine tints, bright 
as the rosiest sunset clouds. 
Going up to the Jake we could hear 
beyond it the roar of a waterfall, which 
I determined to see. So off I trudged, 
and a weary tramp it was; but I was 
paid a hundred fold. The stream enters 
the lake from a dense, moss-draped forest 
of pine, spruce, and fir trees more than 
two hundred feet high. Five hundred 
feet from the lake it plunges down from 
a great cliff of granite, descending by a 
series of leaps of from fifty feet to two 
or three hundred feet each. I climbed 
up until I became tired, and as far as I 
could see the torrent was coming thus 
down the mountain side. Between the 
foot of the falls and the lake I landed a 
few very fine trout, and feasted on delici- 
ous currants that covered the banks. 
Then took my stand at the inlet and 
caught trout as fast as [ could throw 
the fly, until my basket was filled and I 
had more than I could comfortably carry 
to camp. Starting around the lake I 
met my friend and the proprietor of the 
fishery gliding toward its head. The 
latter was paddling a neat, trim raft, and 
‘| 
