An August Outing in Upper Merced Canon. 39 



AN AUGUST OUTING IN THE UPPER MERCED 

 CANON. 



By S. L. Foster. 



Looking for inspiration for an unusual, easy two- 

 weeks' trip into the Sierras, I found it in two articles 

 in the Sierra Club Bulletin. The first was entitled 

 "From Tuolumne Meadows to Yosemite Valley by Tuol- 

 umne Pass," on page 314 of the Bulletin of June, 1905, 

 and the second "The Grand Canons of the Tuolumne and 

 the Merced," on page 235 of the Bulletin for January, 

 1908. After reading these I spent my vacation very 

 pleasantly during August, 1908, in the Merced Canon 

 from just below Washburn Lake to the Yosemite Valley. 



In the first article there appears on page 316 the fol- 

 lowing: "We skirted the north shore of Lake Merced 

 to its outlet and followed the river into Lost Valley 

 and to where the Merced goes into the gorge of Little 

 Yosemite. Further progress by the river seemed im- 

 possible. . . In the second article, on page 236, there 

 appears the following: "Lying only a few miles above 

 Little Yosemite, it (the Merced Canon) is rarely visited, 

 as the canon becomes almost impassable a couple of 

 miles below Lake Merced. Between the rocky shoulder 

 just below Lake Merced and the wall of granite that 

 now shuts the canon off from Little Yosemite lies Lost 

 Valley. . . 



Relative to those two statements, I wish to throw a 

 little light from my own excursion through the "im- 

 passable" part of the canon, taking the matter up under 

 three heads, — Lost Valley, canon from Lake Merced to 

 Little Yosemite Valley, impossibility of progress by the 

 river from Lost Valley into Little Yosemite, — as I think 

 the statements may unnecessarily deter prospective 

 trampers from an easy and interesting trip. The diffi- 

 culties described were the attractions for me. 



