Doivn the Kern-Kaweah. 



33 



DOWN THE KERN-KAWEAH. 



By George P. Putnam. 



You all know how the party began their arduous day, 

 on the Kaweah climb, at an hour when sane city folk 

 are returning from their theater suppers. We leave 

 to other hands the task of picturing the ascent — the 

 chimneys that ended nowhere, the rock-work along the 

 sky-cutting knife-edge — and hasten to the summit, 

 whence our party diverged from the other climbers. 



My companion, Mr. Dyer, and myself had carried 

 packs with bedding and three days' "grub," which addi- 

 tional weight, as may well be supposed, added not a little 

 to our appreciation of the peak's altitude, for foot-pounds 

 of work accomplished form a splendid basis for altitude 

 computation. Briefly, our plan was this: We desired 

 to see the head of the Big Arroyo, to cross the divide, 

 approximately 12,500 feet in height, separating Nine Lake 

 Basin from the beginnings of the Kem-Kaweah, and once 

 into the valley of the latter, to follow it down to its 

 influx with the Kern at Junction Meadow. Thus we 

 hoped to browse in pastures new and possibly come 

 across some mountain scenery of a different character 

 from any yet encountered. As a matter of fact, our 

 plans, if they could have been dignified by such a title, 

 were of the most hazy kind. Indeed, we trusted entirely 

 to our government maps, and started out secure in the 

 knowledge that we could blame our mistakes to these. 



Having been fortunate enough to reach the summit 

 at an early hour, we were able by noontime to continue 

 on to the northward. We followed the very top of 

 the wall which connects the main peak with its northern 

 neighbors, the Black Kaweahs, with the deep abyss of 

 the Kaweah Basin far below on our right, and on the 

 left the sloping talus pile stretching down towards the 



