44 



Sierra Club Bulletin. 



good deer trail leads up from the oak-tree sheltered "deer 

 yard" in the upper part of the valley over the saddle 

 either into Little Yosemite itself or to Sunrise Trail and 

 out at Nevada Falls. One hour's leisurely climb sufficed 

 to carry me from Lost Valley to the top of the north dome 

 overlooking the gorge at the entrance to Little Yosemite, 

 and I "due" rocked the upper part of the trail where 

 there were stones for "dues" and boulders to crown. The 

 deer tracks, however, are clear enough marks for any one 

 to follow. 



In the article last referred to, on page 237, appears 

 the following: "We did not regret the extra work, how- 

 ever, for in making our way up the southern bank of the 

 river above the lake (Washburn) we found a soda 

 spring." 



In looking for that spring I walked from my Echo 

 Creek camp up the canon beyond Merced Lake and be- 

 yond where the main trail crosses the river, but not to 

 Washburn Lake. My day's outward tramping time-limit 

 — noon — had nearly expired when, two hours' walk 

 from Merced Lake and after crossing a cluster of three 

 brooks on the north side of the river and before reaching 

 a "silver apron" about one hundred feet wide and two 

 hundred feet long, I found soda springs on both sides of 

 the river. Those on the south side were flowing bounti- 

 fully, but those on the north side were nearly dry in 

 August. These springs were right alongside the river, 

 were easily noted from the wide areas of rusty red 

 deposit about them, as in Tuolumne Meadows, and their 

 waters tasted about the same as that of the soda springs 

 in Tuolumne Meadows. 



If the report above referred to in the Bulletin for 

 January, 1908, and a similar one on page 292 of the 

 Bulletin for June, 1908, are not in error, there are soda 

 springs both above and below Washburn Lake in the 

 canon. 



I would venture to predict that this upper Merced 

 Canon, between Echo Creek and Washburn Lake, would 



