10 



Sierra Club Bulletin. 



creek decreased, and we entered a wide glacial trough — 

 a " hanging valley,"* tributary to the main Palisade 

 Canon. By 4 o'clock we had reached the level of the 

 highest trees^ consisting of a half-dozen storm-beaten 

 tamaracks, and there threw down our packs for the 

 night. We were completely shut in by high cliffs, and 

 no ghmpse of the Palisades could as yet be obtained. 



To cook dinner with nothing but a frying-pan, a dimin- 

 utive pot, and a tomato-can is an art requiring consid- 

 erable experience and is not an easy one to acquire. First 

 the stones for the fireplace must be put so close together 

 that it is difficult to make the fire burn at all, and, again, 

 to balance the little pots on rough stones requires knowl- 

 edge of the laws of equilibrium which can never be 

 gleaned from books on mechanics. The operation, though 

 laborious,, was finally brought to a successful conclusion, 

 when we ate canned beef (so-called, but in all probability 

 canned horse) off heated fragments of glaciated granite, 

 and canned tomatoes and coffee in turn from cups. The 

 dish-washing consisted in throwing away the plates and 

 rinsing the cups. 



As the chill of the approaching night began to settle 

 over our desolate camp we built a huge fire near a big 

 boulder, cut our stogies in two to prolong their period 

 of usefulness, smoked, and were at peace. The outlook 

 was across the great valley of Palisade Creek and di- 

 rectly up the rugged gorge by which we had descended 

 from Amphitheater Lake. Down its middle tumbled the 

 foaming stream, a long line of silver, lost here and there 

 amongst the talus-piles. Cataract Creek, we called it, and 



* Valleys which enter the trunk canons far above, s6 that their streams form 

 lalls or cascades, are called " hanging valleys." 



