Grand Canons of Tuolumne and Merced. 241 



dense and frequent level alluvial deposits gave us the 

 longed-for opportunity to walk upright instead of scram- 

 bling or crawling. 



It is impossible to do justice to the canon after one 

 brief journey through it ; impossible to set down in order 

 the details of that day's travel and the next, confused as 

 they were by the consciousness of tired muscles and eyes 

 bewildered by the all too hurried succession of interests. 

 Little more than impressions remain — ^memories of cliffs 

 rising from three to five thousand feet above us ; of a walk 

 of half a mile on stepping-stones along the river ; of more 

 talus-piles; of the entrance into the rattlesnake zone; of 

 a walk through a still forest of tall firs and young cedars, 

 where our voices seemed to break the silence of ages; 

 of more talus-piles; of a camp beneath the firs, among 

 deep fern-beds, and of the red ants that there congre- 

 gated; of more brush and more talus-piles; of a look 

 down Muir Gorge and a hot climb up a thousand feet 

 over the rocks to the cairn of stones containing the 

 precious register; of a cliff extending to the river's edge 

 which presented the alternative of edging across it on a 

 crack or climbing a five-hundred-foot hill to get around it. 



Near nightfall of the third day we chanced upon a 

 bear trail at the head of Pate Valley which led us 

 through a heavy growth of young cedars and past a 

 swampy meadow, where we saw a bear-wallow, to the 

 bank of Piute Creek, near its junction with the Tuol- 

 umne. Those arriving first at this spot built the fire and 

 caught some fish, and it was a welcome sight to most of 

 us to see the boiling water awaiting the coming of the 

 soup powder and the cleaned fish ready for the tardy 

 frying-pan. One by one the utensils and provisions 

 appeared upon the scene (at that time of the day one 

 does not worry over the safety of a fellow-hiker who has 

 lingered overlong upon the trail; one laments the ab- 

 sence of the tea-kettle or the rice), and soon we were 

 enjoying supper by the flickering light of the camp-fire 

 and one tallow candle. 



