236 



Sierra Club Bulletin. 



flashed greetings to the stars a Httle later when the moon 

 shone out. 



Morning brought an increased reahzation of the canon's 

 wonderful beauty. Lying only a few miles above Little 

 Yosemite, it is rarely visited, as the canon becomes almost 

 impassable a couple of miles below Lake Merced, and for 

 many years the only trail entering it was the steep, cir- 

 cuitous one we had traveled. A trail has now been built 

 to join the Sunrise Trail, but the Upper Merced Canon 

 is still far enough off the beaten track to preserve all the 

 freshness of a virgin country. 



The canon has two somewhat unusual features — its 

 lakes, Washburn and Merced, smooth, deep-blue sheets 

 of water, and the curious mingling of forest-land and 

 meadow in the alluvial stretches that line the river bank. 

 A canon meadow is generally an open bit of country, 

 bordered, but unencroached upon by trees; while here 

 dark firs and glinting aspens are scattered over the soft 

 sward, throwing now a deep shadow, now a twinkling 

 green shading across the tender grasses and flowers. Be- 

 tween the rocky shoulder just below Lake Merced and 

 the wall of granite that now shuts the cafion off from 

 Little Yosemite lies Lost Valley, one of those wooded 

 parks rich in meadows and flowers which Dame Nature 

 loves to hide away in the heart of a grim waste of gran- 

 ite rocks. The whole Merced basin is an ideal refuge 

 for deer, and we had many demonstrations of their num- 

 ber and fearlessness, one of them even venturing to inves- 

 tigate a sleeping-bag and its occupant. 



The second morning of our stay saw a great weighing 

 of provisions and packing of bedding, for it marked the 

 beginning of our knapsack trip over to Mt. Ritter. Only 

 fifteen of us undertook this, as we had five days' pro- 

 visions to carry and our way led across a difficult and, to 

 us, entirely unknown country. The first day's travel was 

 short, and, except for a bit of talus work along the shore 

 of Lake Washburn, comparatively easy. Near the outlet of 

 the lake we crossed to the south side of the river to avoid 



