Notes and Correspondence, 315 



were quite prepared to send an elaborate article to the Bulletin. 

 But an examination of our file shows that the ground and much 

 more has been covered in the following articles : " New Routes 

 within Yosemite National Park," by N. F. McClure, Vol. I 

 Sierra Club Bulletin, page 333 ; also, " A Route up Merced 

 River," by Robert M. Price, Vol. II Sierra Club Bulletin, 

 page 197. 



The itinerary, therefore, will be briefly outlined in the hope 

 that it will induce others to follow. We left the Club's camp in 

 Tuolumne Meadows and turned up Rafferty's Creek, which 

 comes into the Lyell Fork of the Tuolumne from the south. 

 Rafferty's heads just below Tuolumne Pass. The trail keeps 

 on the right-hand side and near enough the abrupt sides to fol- 

 low the main stream. 



We kept too much to the west, and found ourselves much too 

 high up near Rafferty's Peak, and had to work our way below 

 the crest of the ridge and down to the Pass, which was easily 

 recognized as being the lowest point. Immediately over it were 

 the interesting granite basins draining into Emeric Creek, and 

 thence into the McClure Fork. Here at the Pass we nooned. 



From the Pass, instead of following down Emeric Creek, 

 the trail bears off to the east and climbs higher between Vogel- 

 sang Peak on the south and Vogelsang Lake on the north, until 

 it comes to the edge of the basin of the McClure Fork. Animals 

 would have had to be taken further to the east, following the 

 monuments on the rock (the friendly "ducks," as my companion 

 dubbed them) to where the descent was possible. As we were 

 without animals, we worked our way down the cliff along a nar- 

 row watercourse and came out in the broad meadows below the 

 head-waters of the McClure Fork of the Merced. 



Here we should have camped in order to have thoroughly 

 enjoyed the wonderful panoramas about us. Mt. Florence and 

 Mt. McClure were right beyond us to the east, and high peaks 

 and precipitous walls were all about. The afternoon was full of 

 exhilaration, and continuously the panorama changed as we 

 walked rapidly along the well-blazed trail above the McClure 

 Fork. As the afternoon wore on we crossed the waters coming 

 down from the Mt. Florence watershed; and we saw the won- 

 derful dome standing by the side of the beautiful cascade by 

 which Emeric Creek comes in, and understood why the trail 

 did not follow that creek. From high up we saw Lake Merced, 

 and on beyond the unmistakable Le Conte Dome, and on beyond 

 the setting sun. 



