The Mt. Ritter Knapsack Trip, 



291 



started for Mt. Ritter, twenty miles to the eastward. 

 And such a twenty miles ! There is not a more glorious 

 stretch on the continent! Now on some pass which is 

 but a little lower than the peaks on either side and from 

 which in every direction are seen piles on piles of moun- 

 tains, all clothed in white and piercing the skies ! Now 

 in some gorge that seems like a titanic rift in the earth's 

 crust ! Now on a glacier-planed slope that might well 

 be a giant's toboggan-slide ! Again taking an angling 

 course up a snow steep or sliding down one so swiftly 

 that it seemed like flying through space ! Then crossing 

 rivers on snow bridges ! The joy of it all calls irresistibly, 

 and we long for the mountains again with a feeling akin 

 to homesickness. 



After a leisurely breakfast on the morning of June 

 23d we left the Merced camp accompanied by nearly 

 all the remainder of the Merced party of seventy, who 

 went along partly to see us off and partly to visit the 

 basin of the Upper Merced a few miles above. 



Our packs were collected and sent forward on pack 

 animals, which were to go as far up the gorge as possible 

 and thus relieve us of some of the fatigue of the first 

 day's tramp. Our way lay close to the river on the 

 north side. We followed an old sheep trail, which was 

 so indistinct that in many places we entirely lost it and 

 had to push our way through brush and over broken 

 rock masses which strewed the face of the rather abrupt 

 cliff. The pack animals found the going very difficult 

 and after a couple of miles were finally brought to a 

 full stop by a glacier-polished granite slope that plunged 

 into the river at a steep angle and which was even too 

 smooth and abrupt for man to cross. Here we shoul- 

 dered our packs and crossed the river on a convenient 

 log bridge. We followed close to the river on the south 

 side as far as Lake Washburn. 



Lunch was eaten at the foot of the lake, where the 

 Merced flows out in a clear stream from twenty-five to 



