THE SHADOW OF THE WITCH CROWN 



45 



thousand feet into the canyon and saw 

 uprooted spruces in the grasp of the 

 torrent that were carried by it a meas- 

 ured half mile in thirty seconds ! More 

 dripping's from crags, and wild flow- 

 ers, mosses and ferns. 



The din was unbearable, and up we 

 went over a blind and outrageous trail, 

 climbing all the afternoon, until we 

 were on the left bank of the upper 

 Yoho river, and above the Great Falls 

 to where two nameless streams form 

 the river. The miserable journey of 

 five miles was exhausting to the point 

 of collapse. The guides pitched the 

 tent and rolled Dan, sound asleep, into 

 his blankets. That was our "perma- 

 nent" camp from which we sought 

 sheep and goats — seeing a very few and 

 shooting none. The writer fired twice 

 at sheep, once where a miss was inex- 

 cusable, and the fine fellow scampered 

 over almost impossible rocks plunged 

 many feet and got away. 



Along the left bank, of the left 

 branch of the river was a yet more hor- 

 rible trail for five miles to the forefoot 

 and unknown expanse of the great 

 Wapta Glacier. We slept on it ten 

 nights, to get the early morning shoot- 

 ing, and all without getting a single 

 head. The glacier has a motion of 

 about two feet every twenty-four hours. 

 We were often waked by the groans, 

 heaving and "explosions" of the frac- 

 turing ice. The desolation and remote- 

 ness were indescribable. Crevasses, 

 serac, couloire, neve, moraine and arete 

 are not mentioned. The pictures show- 

 ing the rivers of ice and the glacier's 

 snout will explain far better than 

 words. 



Why call it Ice Land, Mountain 

 Land, Glacier Land? All that is mani- 

 fest. Above all, it was Sun Land, — be- 

 ing almost cloudless every day for about 

 sixty days in midsummer. Scenes for 

 a hundred miles in all directions, tax- 

 ing the eye, and with such giants as 

 Balfour, Gordon and the Witch Crown 

 in all the sharpness of detail are won- 

 derfully clear in that clear air. We 

 were tired, happy and hypnotized. 



Up the other branch of the Yoho 

 we found two goats ; but they were as 

 elusive as ghosts. We longed for less 

 scenery and more chances to fire at 

 big game. Finally, a week of strenu- 

 ous effort to secure at least one head of 

 a bighorn. But those animals live 

 above the timber line, coming down to 

 the brush to browse on twigs, ferns and 

 mosses, so one has to get above them, 

 or they race back to safety and vanish. 

 Few -realize what it means to stalk them 

 in their chosen homes. Not even a city 

 athlete, much less the "tenderfoot," 

 should attempt serious hunting for 

 these animals without a month of train- 

 ing on the mountains. 



I looked long through my field- 

 glasses, and located four sheep munch- 

 ing at the twigs on the edge of a rag- 

 ged patch of stunted trees two thou- 

 sand feet above me with one of their 

 number standing apart on a snow-field 

 as a sentinel. It was two miles to 

 camp ; blankets and foods except our 

 hardtack were back there. The climb 

 to those sheep was a mile to the left, 

 risking broken limbs and drowning at 

 a point where the torrent could per- 

 haps be crossed by using the trunk of 

 a fallen spruce and the tops of rocks 

 around which the water roared. Then, 

 a climb of a thousand feet more (the 

 Twin Falls are 700 feet high), to the 

 valley or table-land forming their 

 upper basin. Then, another mile of 

 climbing. Finally, the skirting of the 

 base of the pinnacle, and getting above 

 the sheep (always assuming that they 

 remained there), while constantly risk- 

 ing discovery by this marvel of keen 

 sight. Possibly a long uncertain shot 

 at last. If by happy chance the 

 sheep fell there would be a painful 

 backward descent during another day 

 of exhausting effort, and a return with 

 the horns to our camp. No wonder 

 that Frank danced with joy at secur- 

 ing a fine head from an Indian for 

 twelve dollars. 



It is all very well to get enthusiastic 

 on a sleeping car or in a city restaurant 

 as two hobnobbing cronies exchange 



