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Sierra Club Bulletin. 



and then on down the river to the mouth of Dusy Branch. 

 Here we picked up the sheep trail which crosses the 

 Sierras north of the PaHsades, and made good time on 

 down the canon. Gradually it widened more and more, 

 the walls rose to still more imposing heights, till suddenly 

 we emerged into the beautiful Grouse Valley, an emerald 

 in a setting of granite, through which the river swung 

 in great loops. At the lower end we made camp at noon. 



Grouse Valley is one of the most beautiful, if not the 

 most beautiful, of high-mountain meadows. Its chief 

 charm lies in its absolute wildness. Not an average of 

 one party in three years penetrates this fastness, for 

 there is no trail leading into it from the west. The river 

 canon down to the mouth of Cartridge Creek is excep- 

 tionally rugged, and impassable for pack animals, in fact 

 I know of but two parties who have knapsacked through 

 it. We spent the whole of the afternoon and part of next 

 morning with the glorious scene before us, and then all 

 unwillingly took our way up Palisade Creek, the main 

 eastern tributary. There was just enough of a track 

 through this great glacial valley to show that a sheep 

 man or two had been up it in the early days. We en- 

 countered some rough talus, but got through all right as 

 far as the mouth of Cataract Creek, camping again just 

 after noon about a half mile below Glacier Brook. 



On the morning of the 2ist we set out to explore 

 the head of the creek. We now had the difficult problem 

 before us of getting out of the Middle Fork Basin. There 

 were two possible ways, one up Palisade Creek to its 

 head, and over the Monarch Divide to the South Fork 

 of King's River, and the other up Cataract Creek to 

 Cartridge Creek, from which a sheep trail led to the 

 South Fork. The former lay nearer the crest, so we de- 

 termined to explore that first. 



Soon after leaving camp the valley became choked 

 with brush. We fought through this for upwards of a 

 mile, and then encountered heavy talus. We spent much 

 time searching for an animal route through this, but with 



