The Kern River Outing of ipi6 



173 



sorcery, hypnotism, nor fancy flies could lure them to impale 

 themselves on any deadly hook. 



As each day was more wonderful, so each night the spell of 

 the camp-fire drew us closer into the magic circle. "Lost and 

 found" were distributed with appropriate remarks, the trips de- 

 scribed in terms of Colby or Tappaan miles ; and then came a 

 wide diversity of entertainment — interesting talks on birds, 

 trees, glaciers, Alaska ; singing of solos or tout ensemble; haunt- 

 ing melodies of flute and violin, peculiarly suited to these sur- 

 roundings. 



The annual Sierra Club Vaudeville given here in the forest 

 theater was a high-class performance which brought out much 

 talent — ''Street Scenes in Venice," beautifully staged, was in- 

 terrupted somewhat by temperamental "Gabriel" ; music, skits, 

 monologues, and even Shakespeare a la mode, were greeted with 

 generous applause. Another day the bulletin-board announced 

 that a bandana exhibition would take place, and all were urged 

 to enter gaudy squares in this unique competition. Things of 

 beauty were produced from grimy dunnage-bags — hand-woven 

 brocades, block-printed silks, and oriental scarfs of much in- 

 terest. The last evening found the commissary metamorphosed 

 and we dined sumptuously and well at "Cafe Moraine," served 

 by famihar faces rising above unfamiliar garments. The men 

 had raided the women's camp and now appeared in flowered 

 kimono, highland kilt, or prim shirt-waist. 



A wealth of stirring memories is associated with this camp- — 

 the mysteriously fascinating ecHpse of the moon, a "by request" 

 violin concert on the sloping hillside near the spring, a vivid 

 electrical storm over the upper Kern region — so it was with 

 genuine regret that we left the Chagoopa Plateau to return to 

 our former camp-site in Lower Funston Meadow for one night 

 and then push on eleven miles to Junction Meadows. 



This day we crossed the mighty Kern itself and proceeded to 

 the upper end of the canon, whose grandeur was enhanced by 

 mighty sculptured walls and forbidding cliffs, culminating in 

 minarets and domes, rushing streams, pouring at intervals from 

 some side canon, and occasional mistlike waterfalls, "like down- 

 ward smoke, slow-dropping veils of thinnest lawn." Junction 

 Meadows, where the Kern, Kern-Kaweah, and East Fork meet, 



