IN THE OLYMPIC MOUNTAINS. 



95 



the Largest glacier in this part of 

 tin- Olympics. 



The glacier, which is broken by 

 many crevasses, is accessible, and a 

 near view is well worth the exertion 

 to obtain it. 



We continued our ascent and 

 were soon rewarded by a view of 

 the Quiniault valley and lake, and 

 far away the expanse of the broad 

 Pacific. 



The descent into the valley was 

 very precipitous. We enjoyed the 

 slide down a long snow field, but, 

 going down a creek bottom, at an 

 angle of 45 degrees, was less agree- 



AT THE FOOT OF THE GLACIER. 



able. The slippery rocks and slid- 

 ing earth made our progress slow 

 and hazardous. 



It was while descending this wild 

 place that we saw our first elk. Far 

 below, in a small opening, one could 

 be seen feeding. A nearer view 

 showed us 3 magnificent bulls, 

 and we immediately determined 

 that one of them should be ours. 

 This was my first experience in 

 stalking big game, and those who 

 have been similarly situated will 

 understand the intensity of my ex- 

 citement as we skulked behind 

 bowlders, bushes, and timbers. 



The elk, evidently tired of their 



grazing place, moved slowly toward 

 the timber, and disappeared on one 

 of their well-worn trails. This was 

 our opportunity and, with Mr. Hop- 

 per in the lead, we hastened across 

 the opening and followed the trail 

 a few rods, when, on ascending a 

 small hill, we saw one of the elk 

 standing, with full left side exposed 

 to view, not over 100 feet away. 



Mr. Hopper quickly aimed, but 

 the cartridge failed to explode. The 

 click of the rifle startled the elk, and 

 by the time the second aim was 

 taken it had passed behind some 

 timber. A small portion of his body 

 could be seen. That was sufficient, 

 and after the report the elk made a 

 few jumps and fell dead. We rushed 

 to the same level and could easily 

 have shot one of the others, but, 

 in one elk, weighing about 800 

 pounds, Ave realized that we had a 

 great deal more meat than we could 

 use. 



To our surprise the 2 remaining 

 elk seemed to be more curious than 

 startled. They moved a short dis- 

 tance, stopped, looked at their fallen 

 companion, and then passed on into 

 the timber. We encountered nu- 

 merous difficulties in getting the 

 meat to camp. These were all sur- 

 mounted, and we feasted .on elk 

 steak as long as we remained in the 

 mountains. A snow drift near-camp 

 made a perfect refrigerator. 



A few days later we decided to 

 explore a portion of the Olympics 

 never before visited, and if possible 

 to locate a trail to the South fork of 

 the Skokomish by which we might 

 later return to civilization. We 

 spent 3 days on this trip, but found 

 we could not, in the time we had, 

 make a feasible trail to the South 

 fork, so abandoned that plan. 



There is a network of elk trails 

 through the accessible parts of the 

 range, and these greatly facilitated 

 our traveling. On one occasion we 

 followed the same trail, for a long 

 distance, up steep grades and over 



