298 



Sierra Club Bulletin. 



and there were but two of us ; so we were accordingly 

 careful. The trail proper runs from East Lake, which 

 is below Lake Reflection on the South Fork of Bubb's 

 Creek ; but instead of going back to East Lake, which is 

 where the Mt. Brewer division of the Sierra Club estab- 

 lished Camp Le Conte on the 1902 outing, we cut across 

 the ridge, which is very steep and rocky and without 

 sign of trail. We started shortly after sunrise, and get- 

 'ting into the cafion leading to the pass we worked our 

 horses on up the mountain meadows and beside several 

 beautiful small lakes. In one place we crossed boulders 

 under which we could hear the water roaring and rum- 

 bling in the caverns beneath; but we could not reach it 

 or even see it. 



Finally, at i :20 o'clock in the afternoon we stood 

 on the snow-fields gazing up the shale slide leading to 

 the gap of the Pass. It is called a pass; but, as has 

 been said, it will be useful only when the Government 

 has placed a derrick there. 



We had intended to camp for the night at the last 

 meadow below, but in our enthusiasm had passed it by 

 mistake, and having come up a difficult and dangerous 

 defile we resolved to push on rather than go back to the 

 meadow. There is neither wood nor horse-feed at the 

 foot of the Pass. 



It was the middle of July and the middle of the day. 

 The snow was soft and deep ; and although we proceeded 

 with great caution and made many tests of its sustaining 

 power, several animals had floundered in the snow and 

 we were compelled to unpack them and dig them out. 

 This was all at the foot as we approached the shale slide 

 leading to the Pass. At its very foot our best riding- 



