154 



Sierra Club Bulletin, 



The next move brought the Sierrans to the mouth of 

 Conness Creek in the Tuolumne Canon, and a day's 

 halt there enabled many of the party to descend as far 

 as California and Le Conte Cascades and see the best of 

 the canon's water scenery. The magnificent power and 

 sublime beauty of these cascades in their tumultuous rush 

 down the canon and their jeweled spray dashing high in 

 air were indescribable, and all who made this trip re- 

 gretted that these wonders of nature were not more easily 

 accessible to pilgrims of the Sierra. While the main 

 party went to Matterhorn Canon and thence to Rodger's 

 Lake, nine trampers knapsacked down the Tuolumne 

 Canon to Muir Gorge, climbed up the north wall along 

 the southerly bank of the stream which joins the Tuol- 

 umne River just below the gorge, followed up Rodger's 

 Creek to Neale Lake and joined the camp at Rodger's 

 Lake the fourth day. 



Matterhorn Canon and Rodger's Lake will no doubt 

 suggest to some members of the Club copious rain and 

 damp beds, but on the part of the more jesthetic these 

 discomforts have been forgotten, and to mention these 

 places will recall the billowy masses of cumulus rising in 

 the southeast and overspreading the sky, the murmur of 

 thunder, first far distant, then approaching nearer and 

 nearer, culminating in bright flashes and metallic crashes 

 reverberating from peak to peak and filling the canons 

 with its volume of sublime sound; the downpour of rain 

 and then the warm sun reappearing and brightening the 

 refreshed vegetation and making glorious the disappear- 

 ing clouds. Peculiarly fascinating and long to be remem- 

 bered was the sound of the hail on the lake — a few pat- 

 terings gradually increasing in volume to a roar like that 

 of an on-rushing locomotive, and as gradually diminish- 

 ing to silence. Of the many picturesque spots visited 

 by the Club, that at Rodger's Lake is pre-eminent, lying 

 as it does at an elevation of 9,500 feet, its clear blue 

 waters beautifully reflecting its islands and the snow- 

 fields of the surrounding rugged peaks. 



