118 SAN FRANCISCO FOREST TO MOQUIS—BLUE PEAKS. 
ow 
valley slopes are bounded. There was no appearance of a break till the face of the precipice 
was reached, when a narrow entrance was disclosed that conducted into a ravine bounded by 
walls of brilliant red marl. The road was level for some distance along the gorge, and then a 
steep ascent was reached which brought us, after some difficult climbing, to the summit. 
About us and extending ‘westward as far as the eye could reach, were the red bluffs, yellow 
sand, and all the direful features previously encountered upon the desert, but in front, only a 
few miles distant, a line of beautiful blue peaks stood like watch-towers upon the verge of a 
pleasant looking region. A green slope between two prominent summits directly ahead led 
Fig. 38—Blue Peaks. 
to an undulating ascent, seen in far perspective and dotted with fantastic crags, the most dis- 
tant of which were tipped with snow. The cool, soft tints of this picturesque landscape were 
in refreshing relief to the glaring colors and desolate monotony of the foreground. 
The march having extended to twenty-five miles, and darkness approaching, we were com- 
pelled to camp just before reaching the entrance to this land of promise. The day had opened 
bright and hot, but taught by experience we were not astonished when at noon a storm set in, 
accompanied with hail and rain and a piercingly cold atmosphere. The rain at night might 
have been an advantage had not the porous soil instantly absorbed every drop. We had 
nothing in which to catch enough. water to supply the animals. The icy blast would have 
prevented them from grazing even had there been anything to eat, and they looked, if 
possible, more wo-begone than ever when morning came. 
We gladly left the desert and ascended the slope. While advancing, the Blue Peaks rose 
up in front, like ships approached at sea—some in cones: sand hoses Oo castellated shapes, 
and others in irregular masses. We had made six miles, an¢ » looking out eagerly for 
water when we reached a little spring issuing from a rock “by the side of the trail. At the 
