170 



Sierra Club Bulletin. 



ON MT. ST. HELENS WITH THE MAZAMAS 



By Marion Randall Parsons, 



The Mazama Club of Portland, Oregon, was the first 

 mountaineering club in the West to organize summer 

 outings for its members. Fifteen years ago the pioneer 

 outing was held at Mt. Hood, and each summer since 

 then one or more of the great snow peaks of the north 

 has been visited. 



The Mazama Outings differ in many essential points 

 from those of the Sierra Club. The weather conditions 

 of Washington and northern Oregon do not favor pro- 

 tracted camping-trips, as those of California's summers 

 do, and even in the brief fortnight of the Mazama moun- 

 tain sojourn storms are only too apt to occur. The 

 camp baggage, therefore, is necessarily cumbersome: — 

 sleeping-tents have to be provided for all; canvas flies 

 must be erected over kitchen stoves and dining-tables, and 

 heavy bedding and clothing is imperative. As all this 

 prevents the frequent shifting of camp, the nomad's life 

 that we of the Sierra Club like to lead becomes impossible. 

 Neither is it desirable, nor necessary for the enjoyment 

 of the country. For instead of having countless ranges 

 of mountains, hundreds of canons, valleys, and rivers to 

 explore, the entire interest of the trip centers about the 

 one giant mountain, its glaciers, its vast snow-fields, and 

 the flowery parks and meadows that encircle it, an em- 

 erald belt between the snows and the dark green of the 

 forests. 



It is among these open parks that the camping-grounds 

 are generally found, for the upland forests, while rich 

 in beauty, are too damp, dark, and cold for camping, and 

 their dense undergrowth renders traveling through them, 

 save on the infrequent trails, a feat advisable only for 

 those str6ng of limb and wise in woodcraft. 



