Scrambles About Yosemite 



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often heard Mr. Muir describe his trip through it in the early- 

 days, had heard Chas. Bailey relate his experiences, and had 

 read the accounts of Corbett and Gibbs, who went through in 

 1894, and of Foster, who made it in 1909. As all these except 

 Mr. Muir had come down the gorge, Hutchinson and I decided 

 to make a trial in the reverse direction. So plans were laid 

 for a start on the evening of July 19th. 



The Tenaya is one of the grandest canons of the Sierra. 

 It heads just south of Lake Tenaya, and trends southwesterly 

 to the upper end of Yosemite Valley. In general, its cross- 

 section is U-shaped, a typical glacial canon. For several miles 

 of its length it is between 4,000 and 5,000 feet deep. The 

 highest slope is on the east, where the tremendous masses of 

 Half Dome and Clouds Rest form the wall. Perhaps the 

 deepest part is just below the crest of Clouds Rest, where there 

 is an unbroken slope of polished granite fully 5,000 feet in 

 vertical height on the east, while on the west the domes of 

 Mt. Watkins tower 4,000 feet above the stream. Just here 

 the (sreek has cut a box canon in the bed of the great polished 

 glacial trough, and the smooth slopes on either side approach 

 the edges of this at so high an angle that it is very difficult 

 to pass around the gorge. Above and below the box canon 

 the great gorge is choked with boulders and brush, rough but 

 not dangerous; but again at the very head of the canon there 

 is a fall or slide over the polished granite some 500 feet high, 

 which furnishes an interesting problem for the climber. 



Hutchinson and I packed our knapsacks on*the afternoon of 

 the 19th. We took food for two or three days, for it was not 

 possible to tell how long we might be trapped in the canon. 

 We took a small camera, two empty tin cans for cooking, and, 

 most important of all, a pair of rubber-soled tennis shoes, or 

 "sneakers," for polished granite. We also took our sleeping- 

 bags as far as the first night's camp. That evening we took 

 dinner with the main party, and about 6 :30 p. m. "hiked" out 

 up the road to Mirror Lake, and then along the fine new trail 

 to the foot of the steep zig-zags which have recently been 

 built up to the top of the wall opposite Half Dome. Here we 

 left the trail and camped in a beautiful spot on the banks of 

 Tenaya Creek. 



