FIELD-DAYS IN CALIFORNIA 



spoke of the trail to Yosemite Point only) ; " we 

 made it between breakfast and luncheon." 



But they had made it on horseback, as came 

 out a minute later, which somewhat weakened 

 the argument. Difficult or easy, however (and if 

 there had been forty, or even twenty, less years 

 in my pack, all this debate concerning distances 

 and grades would have been ridiculous), to Yo- 

 semite Point I was determined to go. Once, at 

 least, I must stand upon the rocks at the top of 

 that stupendous fall, at which I had spent so many 

 happy half-hours in gazing. And stand there I 

 did, not once, but thrice ; and except for the 

 Glacier Point outlook, which must always rank 

 first, I enjoyed no other Yosemite experience 

 quite so much. So I speak; yet sometimes, 

 while loitering downward in the late afternoon, 

 I sang another song. " After all," I thought, 

 "these are the best hours." And really there is 

 no reaching any final verdict in matters of this 

 pature, so much depending upon mood and cir- 

 cumstance. 



I was walking in the shade of a vertical cliff so 

 near, so high, so overpowering in its enormous 

 proportions, that I often felt it to be more im- 

 pressive than El Capitan itself; and, walking 

 thus in deep shadow, I looked out upon a world 

 gi bright sunlight : the fall at my side (" Oh, I 

 J8S 



