The Ascent of the North Palisades. 5 



morning of the 21st we started out early, and followed 

 the trail to Fiske's mine, five miles above, where Cart- 

 ridge Creek enters the river. Of the rough trip up this 

 canon I need not speak, as this has already been described 

 in a previous article. We found, however, that all the 

 rock-rolling and brush-cutting of the year before did very 

 little toward improving the route. Triple Fall was 

 made by noon, and we camped for night about a mile 

 or two above without mishap to our pack-animals. Next 

 morning by 10 a. m. we reached the lower end of the 

 Cartridge Creek Lake Basin, and camped again at beauti- 

 ful Lake Marion, just where the clear stream leaps from 

 the lake over the moraine and into the wild canon below. 



In order to study out a passable route to the North 

 Palisades, and also to make altitude determinations of the 

 many surrounding peaks, the afternoon was devoted to 

 climbing a high slate peak just south of the lake. This 

 peak, which has an elevation of 12,712 feet, is on the di- 

 vide between the South and Middle Fork of King's River, 

 and is the same which Mr. Lindley and myself ascended 

 last summer when seeking a route to Split Mountain. It 

 commands a splendid view of the head-waters of both 

 streams. By 3 in the afternoon we reached its sum- 

 mit, and immediately turned our attention to the North 

 Palisades, which arose in a forbidding array of jagged 

 spires ten miles to the north. The day was cold, and so 

 perfectly clear that with the aid of the telescope of our 

 transit every rock, chimney, and ledge of the huge wall 

 could be studied with ease. It now appeared that, 

 although the actual summit of the highest peak was on 

 the Main Crest, the whole of the great knife-edge did not 

 constitute a portion of it. Just to the south of the sum- 



