192 



Sierra Club Bulletin. 



One more side trip to illustrate the attractive variety- 

 offered on the outing. Leaving main camp after an early 

 supper, a party of four again took the Hector trail. On 

 the trail near Sherbrooke Lake they met a bear. Our 

 sleeping-bags had been taken down that afternoon, and 

 we had hardly placed them in the spare tent near Wapta 

 Lake, when a wind arose and a thunderstorm broke, 

 driving every mosquito away and us into the tent. Thence 

 we comfortably watched the tent illuminated by lightning 

 flashes and viewed fantastic shadows thrown on the can- 

 vas by the powerful headlight of some huge engine as it 

 rounded the curve close by with its burden of transcon- 

 tinental freight. We rose with the sun and after a hasty 

 breakfast started forth in the thunder-cleared air up 

 Cataract Creek to Lake O'Hara. This lake is several 

 miles long and completely encircled by snow peaks. 

 Wiwaxy with its curiously turreted sides suggests feudal 

 castles, one above another. Leaving O'Hara, we kept on 

 to Lake McArthur, which occupies a royal place with two 

 guardian peaks nearby and a glacier sloping to the water's 

 edge. Miniature icebergs float in the wonderful blue, 

 mountain goats dislodge rocks far above, ptarmigan call 

 their dainty chicks from hiding-places in the white-belled 

 heather, diminutive arctic rabbits bounce here and there 

 among the mountain daisies, and marmots test the echoes 

 with their shrill whistle. This lake is the gem of all. 



We tramped twenty-five miles before we reached main 

 camp again. But it was a day well spent and never to 

 be forgotten. At the campfire in the evening we listened 

 to good addresses, songs and stories, and heard how the 

 porcupine had chewed shoes and camera cases, invaded 

 the ladies' quarters, and had driven some of the timid 

 ones from their tents. All too soon the outing ended 

 and everyone turned reluctantly homeward. 



