Knapsacking Across the Kings-Kern Divide. 165 



Jordan and the writer, started to climb Mt. Whitney, 

 14,501 ft. We had cHmbed it before and I was anxious 

 to ascertain how the Golden trout were flourishing 

 which we had transplanted in 1908 when on the Kern 

 River Outing. We followed the mountaineers as far as 

 Crabtree Meadow. As we descended into the meadow, 

 Mt. Whitney and its neighboring summits were aglow 

 with the early flood of morning light and out of the 

 brilliance sailing majestically toward us, as if a mes- 

 senger from the mountain itself, came a Golden Eagle, 

 which soon disappeared in the immense void of the Kern 

 Canon to the West. 



We examined the stream in Crabtree Meadow and saw 

 a few Golden trout, the result of the Sierra Club's 

 planting in 1908. There were three generations in 

 evidence, the largest being at least fifteen inches in 

 length. We hastened on and before long descended into 

 Rock Creek basin, one of the tributaries of which we 

 then ascended to a lake which had also been planted in 

 1908. 



A storm was threatening, with black ominous clouds 

 driving past, and as we reached the lake shortly after 

 noon, its surface was ruffled by the wind and large drops 

 of rain. Seeking the shelter of some large projecting 

 granite slabs on the further side of the lake, we ate our 

 lunch without seeing signs of any trout. Wearied from 

 our strenuous exercise, we both fell asleep. I awakened 

 in about half an hour. The storm had blown past and 

 the sun was shining on the calm surface of the lake which 

 was broken by the rising of numbers of trout some 

 distance off shore. I hastened down to the margin of 

 the lake and with a small spinner managed to induce one 

 of the trout to come close enough to examine. He proved 

 to be a large one — fifteen to eighteen inches in length 

 and still retaining the golden coloration. Numbers of 

 smaller trout indicated that they had thrived in their new 

 environment. 



