Scrambles About Yo Semite 



129 



plunges over a fall, or rather over two falls, with a small pool 

 about ten feet in diameter on a shelf between. Below the 

 lower fall there is another and larger pool, into which the cliffs 

 come down vertically on both sides. At first there seemed to 

 be no possible way of passing it. For a long time we sat at 

 its base and examined the front polished by falling water. 

 Then we tried to climb out of the gorge on the west side, 

 thinking to get around, and either descend into the gorge 

 again or avoid it entirely. By the hardest kind of work, cling- 

 ing to the cliffs and crawling through stubborn oak chaparral, 

 we did succeed in reaching the top of the wall, only to find that 

 it was impossible to proceed along the edge of the gorge. Dis- 

 couraged, we returned to the creek, after wasting upwards of 

 an hour's time, and several hundred feet of rough climbing. 

 We again faced the fall, and after some more study, Hutchin- 

 son suggested that we might crawl along a sloping ledge along 

 the left cliff a few feet above the lower pool, and then climb up 

 beside the lower fall to the pool between the two. This we 

 proceeded to do, and by careful crawling on hands and knees, 

 the lower pool was passed, after which it was easy for us 

 both to reach the foot of the tipper fall. This latter could not 

 be climbed on the left side, but by crossing the foaming stream 

 at the lip of the lower fall, it was possible to continue up the 

 east or right side, and thus the first difficulty was overcome. 



The gorge now widened somewhat, and was choked with 

 huge boulders, some so large as to make climbing around 

 them troublesome. The eastern side now broke down, and a 

 steep chute, the track of innumerable avalanches, broke 

 through, oflFering a means of escape to the slopes below Clouds 

 Rest. Just above this the gorge closed in again, and we 

 entered a second portal, walking in the stream between vertical 

 cliffs which must have been 250 feet high. The way was 

 perfectly clear up to a second and higher fall, which com- 

 pletely blocked the canon. 



This fall was a most unusual one. An immense boulder, 

 some thirty feet in diameter, had evidently rolled down one 

 side of the main canon, dropped into the inner gorge and 

 plugged its bottom like a wedge. The creek had gradually 

 filled in behind it, and now made a fixue fall over it. At the 



