152 



Sierra Club Bulletin. 



arrived and early the following morning we climbed to 

 Little Yosemite, up the trail where Nevada Falls 



— flings her white storm-flood 

 far forth on the air." 



In passing that fall many were attracted by the wonder- 

 ful beauty of a rainbow spanning the spray. The colors 

 were unusually bright and sharply defined, and seen 

 through the dark foliage of the firs, the flame of the 

 orange and red suggested a brilliant camp-fire glowing 

 in the forest at night. 



From Little Yosemite, for part of the distance to 

 Merced Lake, the way led over a new trail, by use of 

 which some elevation and considerable distance were 

 saved. This new route was practically the same as that 

 taken in 1897 by a small party of which the writer was a 

 member. There was then no trail to Merced Lake, and 

 the ease with which the lake was reached by the large 

 Sierra Club party and its long pack-train was in striking 

 contrast to the laborious efforts fourteen years before in 

 forcing the pack animals over lateral moraines and down 

 steep canon sides to the river. A short distance below 

 Lake Merced were observed several tamarack poles that 

 the earlier party had used in constructing a trail over a 

 glaciated surface which projected into the river at an 

 angle too steep for passage by the pack animals. Since 

 then this place has been made safe by a well-constructed 

 trail, the river side of which is supported by iron pins 

 drilled into the rock. 



At Merced Lake, known to Mr. Muir as Shadow Lake 

 and most interestingly described in his "Mountains of 

 California," a fixed camp was made for two days. This 

 afforded an opportunity to visit Lake Washburn and to 

 test the coolness of nerves on the narrow ledge just below 

 the lake and on Colby's fish-pole bridge over the gorge 

 at Soda Springs. From the camp at the lake, three or 

 four of the party made the long ^nd rather difl[icult 

 ascent of Mt. Clark. 



