20 



Sierra Club Bulletin. 



There was no use exploring out a route up Cataract 

 Creek in advance of the packs, for there was no other 

 way out of the dilemma, and we knew that the Geological 

 Survey party had gotten out by that route over the snow 

 in 1907. So we got an early start and went at it. There 

 was no trouble whatever for the first couple of miles, but 

 above that we got into the talus. We avoided some of 

 this by going over the snow, but got into it again, took 

 pretty desperate chances with our mulesj and had to 

 unpack one that fell amongst the rocks. Above this rough 

 place the going was easier to the base of the pass, which 

 now rose 1,200 feet above us in long slopes of talus and 

 then of snow. We could see no possible way of crossing 

 the talus, so camped at the last little patch of green, 

 cooked a good lunch, and started up the pass in the 

 afternoon to explore. The first 500-foot rise was talus; 

 from there to the top, 700 feet of unbroken snow. If we 

 could only get our mules up to the snow, the rest seemed 

 comparatively easy, so while Hutchinson went on up to 

 the top to see what the other side was like, I searched 

 out and monumented a way over the rocks down toward 

 camp. By keeping in the smaller rocks I found a pass- 

 able route to within 150 yards of the meadow, but across 

 this strip of huge talus, a trail must be built. McDuffie 

 came up from camp, and he and I went to work rolling 

 out boulders and filling in holes. Hutchinson joined us 

 in a short time, and we worked steadily most of the after- 

 noon, finally completing a track across the rocks. 



Of all our high camps this was the most glorious. 

 Straight out to the east towered the gigantic pile of the 

 Palisades, and between them and us the canon of Palisade 

 Creek cut profoundly into the granite. Behind rose the 

 pyramid of Observation Peak, and near it our snowy 

 pass, while to the right and left arose scores of unnamed 

 points — ^the heart of the Middle Fork Sierra. We sat 

 for a long time on the rocks below camp, and watched 

 the brilliant light on the Palisades fade into the rosy 

 alpine glow, and gradually into the blackness of night. 



