194 



Sierra Club Bulletin. 



Devil's Ladder, as the packers called it, to the Little 

 Cottonwood at its foot. This is the steepest place along 

 the Hockett Trail, and it certainly warrants the name, 

 for it seemed more like riding down a spiral staircase 

 than anything else. 



After a mile or more of gradual climb along the course 

 of the Little Cottonwood, we turned sharply to the left 

 and followed an indistinct blazed trail until it pitched 

 down to the crossing of the Big Cottonwood. Two miles 

 above the crossing close to the bank, we stopped and pre- 

 pared the place which we were to call a temporary home 

 for the next three months. We were at the edge of a ten 

 acre mountain meadow, and our first night was spent 

 within a rod of a big snow bank. 



We were astir early the next morning. While the 

 mush was cooking, I located some likely looking pools 

 in which the trout were darting to and fro, jumping at 

 the bits of floating sticks and chips which I threw in. 

 I must confess that on this occasion it was not the pros- 

 pective sport that lured me from the camp fire, but the 

 chance to fill a pan with crisp brown trout, and for once 

 give us a change from the everlasting salt-horse and sow- 

 belly which had been our regular fare for the past three 

 months. 



It was very hard to have to arrange camp, and get 

 things settled generally, before starting out to try for 

 the trout. But it had to be done, and it was not until 

 nearly the end of the afternoon that I cut my willow pole, 

 fastened a few yards of shoe thread to it, and baited my 

 hook with some bluebottle flies that we found spending 

 the lunch hour on an opened can of corned beef. 



Just beside our camp the water swirled under a great 

 pine log and fell with a roar to a pool beneath, covering 

 the surface with foam and digging out the overhanging 

 bank. The water was so very turbulent that I thought 

 it unnecessary to take the usual precautions to keep out 

 of sight, so I stood on the edge of the bank, and threw 

 my hook above the falls, letting it drift over to the pool. 



