From Kern Canon to Giant Forest. 103 



Crossing North Fork and Deer Creek next morning, 

 we struck the new trail to Giant Forest. It skirts the base 

 of Sugarbowl Dome without cutting contours until Buck 

 Canon is crossed. Then begins the ascent which ends 

 only at the top of Seven Mile Hill, from which point the 

 old and the new trails run side by side. For us this four- 

 thousand-foot climb was a tough one. The day was hot 

 and humid ; the trail dry and dusty. We made the climb 

 in the middle of the day — the price we paid for a couple 

 of hours' "beauty sleep" that morning. But neither 

 sultry air, glaring sun nor thirsty trail depressed our 

 spirits as much as the fact that we were entirely unpre- 

 pared for what we experienced. We had been told of 

 the fine new trail that did away with the steep zig-zags 

 of the old. As often, therefore, as the trail bore off to 

 the west, the step quickened and the stride lengthened 

 in the hope that we were now on the shady stretch that 

 would lead to the far-famed sequoias. More than a score 

 of times did our hopes fall as the trail turned back into 

 the sun again and began the climb once more. 



The new trail is beautiful — for pack animals — and so 

 safe that a fractious mule cannot fall his own length, 

 but anything with more spirit than a burro will find it 

 monotonous and disheartening. Having experienced the 

 new, next time the writer would try the old trail by Alta 

 Meadows, which though rougher and more dangerous, 

 has distinct scenic value. 



It was such a pleasant variation from the steady up-hill 

 pull of the morning, that the descent from the ridge of 

 Panther Peak was made at a swinging pace ; and forty- 

 eight hours after we picked up our packs in the Kern 

 Cafion, we threw them off in Giant Forest, certainly not 

 a bad record for a knapsack party, some of whom were 

 women. 



Of the days spent in the shade of the sequoias little 

 need be said, for the delight and charm of this spot is 

 well known. Our morning rambles startled the deer in 

 the leafy glades and sent the quail scurrying to cover on 



