Some Aspects of a Sierra Club Outing. 221 



SOME ASPECTS OF A SIERRA CLUB OUTING. 



By Marion Randall. 



Mountain trips the world over bear a certain intrinsic 

 resemblance to one another; the lost trail, the bridgeless 

 river, the firm-willed beast of burden, the camp-fire that 

 will not burn, — all these are tribulations to test the qual- 

 ities of the mountaineer as well in the Cevennes as in the 

 Sierra. But there is one feature of a Sierra Club outing 

 which tends to make it unique, a feature much derided by 

 the doubting Thomas whom you wish to convert, much 

 defended by you if you are a loyal Sierran, — namely, the 

 ''crowd." 



It sounds rather alarming at first — to camp for a 

 month with a party of one hundred and fifty persons, 

 strangers for the greater part, gathered from all quarters 

 of California and from distant points throughout the 

 world, representatives of every profession, every science, 

 every art, who have only one common bond, the love of 

 nature. They are very queer-looking people too, some of 

 them. They bear a few hallmarks of civilization, it is 

 true ; they take off their hats when they speak to you, and 

 smoke pipes and cigarettes; they possess tooth-brushes 

 and mirrors and back-combs, — but you never heard of 

 anything like them in song or story nor saw them upon 

 the stage. 



You rashly decide that you don't care very much about 

 making indiscriminate acquaintances. You have a few 

 tried friends in the party, and, though they strongly 



