Nights with the Grizzlies 



and worms and carrion, and wallowing in 

 mud and filth, and he resembles in apparent 

 stupidity and habits the lowest type of animal 

 — the hog. Yet those well acquainted with his 

 characteristics will, I think, agree with me 

 that in intelligence and perhaps even in in- 

 tellect he is not many grades in the process 

 of evolution below man. 



About the middle of July, 1885, word 

 reached me that there was considerable sign 

 of bear "rooting" on some high mountain 

 plateaus not many days' travel by pack-train 

 from my ranch. Taking a pack outfit, in- 

 cluding my fur-lined sleeping-bag, a good 

 mountain man, and a lad of fifteen to take 

 care of camp and the horses, and enough 

 grub for a few days, we reached the locality, 

 after a hard climb, about noon on the i8th 

 of July. We made camp at about 8500 feet 

 elevation on the head of one of the forks 

 of Four Bear Creek, having to pack wood up 

 from below for making coffee. 



We struck out after lunch up the gulch, and 

 after going a few miles discovered a grizzly 

 rooting among the rocks well up to its head, 

 near the summit of the range, which is here 



215 



