The Mt. Ritter Knapsack Trip. 299 



Around the lake we found everything covered with 

 snow. There was scarcely a bare rock big enough for 

 a single bed, and certainly not one that had a soft side. 

 Although it was now five o'clock we decided to push on 

 over Island Pass into Rush Creek basin, a distance 

 of four or five miles. At Thousand Island Lake there 

 was a small cache of provisions which the other Patter 

 party had left for us a few days before. 



The snowfield continued all the way over Island Pass, 

 and being deeply cupped and soft it made the way seem 

 doubly long. There was a general sigh of relief when 

 we reached the summit of the pass and began the descent. 

 A mile farther on we made camp, but it was now so late 

 that darkness fell before we had supper prepared. 



xA^lthough it was in the last week in July, Rush Creek 

 Basin was still pretty generally covered with snow. We 

 found a camping-place, however, on some granite ledges 

 along a small creek a mile or so above the main stream. 



The next morning the going was very hard. There 

 was a stretch of four or five miles of nearly unbroken 

 snow, the surface of which was deeply cupped and pitted. 

 Being on the east slope it soon softened under the sun, 

 and the steady ascent and heavy snow together made the 

 tramp the most toilsome and wearysome of the whole 

 trip. Though we were fresh from a night's rest we were 

 compelled to make frequent halts. It was about ten 

 o'clock when we reached the top of Donohue Pass and 

 began the descent into Lyell Canon. A mile below the 

 pass, while seven of the party continued on into the 

 Tuolumne camp, arriving there early in the afternoon, 

 five turned aside and climbed Mt. Lyell, thus accomplish- 

 ing the unusual feat of ascending Mt. Ritter one day 

 and Mt. Lyell on the day following. 



Thus ended the Ritter trip, the first of the knapsack 

 trips of the 1907 Outing. That it was successful in 

 every way is not saying too much. There was much toil 

 and some discomfort, it is true, but these were far out- 



