TRAMPS ACROSS GLACIERS OF BRITISH COLUMBIA 483 



torrent and pushed on down the valley, 

 rather anxious, it must be admitted, as 

 to whether there were any other speci- 

 mens in the menagerie. 



After a half hour's rough tumble 

 over the boulders along the stream and 

 through the alders fringing the canyon's 

 lip, we reached the more open portion 

 of the valley seen from above, and soon 

 found a place in an old avalanche track 

 where dry wood was abundant and the 

 tent could be set up among the stones. 



It was anything but an ideal camping 

 spot. The only space for the tent con- 

 sisted of a 6-foot stretch of water-worn 

 rocks, the interstices between which were 

 only partly filled by glacial silt, leaving 

 their "summits" to indent the particularly 

 weary portions of one's anatomy. More- 

 over, even this small area had to be 

 cleared of the ever-present alders. But 

 we were in a far from critical mood, and, 

 in comparison with what might have been 

 our lot, this was luxury. 



A fire, soon kindled, dispelled the 

 gloom and facilitated our lumbering and 

 culinary operations. Ere long the tent 

 was up (though rather precariously) and 

 copious draughts of hot tea and pea soup 

 were repairing the ravages of a hard 

 day's work. 



We had climbed about 4.000 feet under 

 40-pound packs, and descended the same 

 distance, with 600 feet additional, cover- 

 ing a distance of 10 miles through un- 

 traversed country. 



Next morning we were up early to 

 view our surroundings. In the gloom 

 of our arrival the heights had shown 

 merely as dim shadows against the sky. 

 Sounds of rushing waters in varying keys 

 had reached us intermittently as the wind 

 blew gustily down the valley, so we 

 •hoped for glimpses of waterfalls not far 

 away. Not were we disappointed. 



Almost directly behind our camp a 

 beautiful cascade leaped out of the sky 

 and came tumbling down from ledge to 

 ledge in a foaming thread for a full 300 

 feet. Further to the right another gushed 

 out, evidently the drainage from a gla- 

 cier that was nearly hidden in a deep 

 notch. 



Fifteen hundred feet almost straight 

 above this a single Matterhorn-likc sum- 

 mit towered in lonely splendor, forming 

 with its lower and more distant slopes 

 the eastern wall of the valley. The cor- 

 responding wall at our backs rose even 

 steeper to a belt of cliffs which extended 

 for two miles along that side (west) and 

 supported hanging glaciers as far as we 

 could see. Its southerly termination was 

 a sharp rock peak, around which the val- 

 ley swung abruptly to the west. 



Opposite this point stood the fine group 

 of peaks shown on page 486. .Vltogether 

 the scene presented the sharpest contrasts 

 between heights and dcj)ths that we had 

 seen anywhere i^reviously. 



After a day spent in improving the 

 camp we pushed down the valley in order 

 if possible to view its course beyond the 

 turn just mentioned. We followed a 

 well-worn bear trail that wound through 

 soft grassy alps, where evidently the ani- 

 mals often found comfortable (|uarters, 

 to a point where the torrent entered a 

 small canyon. Then we turned to the left 

 and struck up a very steep alder-matted 

 slope, attaining at length an altitude of 

 5,800 feet — 2,400 feet above the valley. 

 From here we obtained splendid views 

 up and down its length, including one of 

 a fine glacier basin below Moimt Sugar- 

 loaf. 



We had come a distance of about a 

 mile and a half from camp in an airline, 

 during which the valley dropped 300 feet. 

 The creek in consequence had in places 

 cut its channel through the loose mo- 

 rainic material to a depth of 75 feet be- 

 low the general level. Lower down the 

 gradient became gentler at an altitude of 

 approximately 3,000 feet, allowing the 

 stream to take a winding course through 

 verdant meadows and groves of ever- 

 ofreens until it once again turned west- 

 ward and was lost to sight. 



Numerous tributaries from the high 

 glaciers of the Battle Range bounded 

 down over smooth rocky slants to join 

 it. in two cases issuing from hanging 

 valleys that cut back into the heart of 

 the range. Our plan was to continue 

 still further, but a heavy shower forced 



