The 1913 Outing to the Kings River Canon i6i 



packs down to a comfortable shape and weight. The route 

 over Glenn Pass is a steep one and does not readily admit of 

 transportation by animals. Hence impedimenta must be car- 

 ried by means of the human foot and shoulder. A four days' 

 trip was planned with provisions for about sixty persons. Rae 

 Lake is one of the most beautiful if not the most beautiful 

 of our Sierra mountain lakes. It is encircled by a wonderful 

 array of towering peaks which it mirrors on its island-dotted 

 surface. 



A day of idleness on the shores of the lake afforded time for 

 varied diversions — fishing, photographing and climbing. Next 

 day we followed down the canon of Wood's Creek whose walls 

 reminded us of the steep cliffs of the Kern-Kaweah gorge, 

 Paradise Valley, our aim. Here the importance of the mo- 

 ment lay in determining which was the spot whose previous 

 historic associations made it important as a camp. The pleas- 

 ing combination of fern and grass, tree and rock, moss and 

 stream, might properly have challenged any other so-caLed 

 Paradise to prove its claims. The cliffs grew higher and the 

 walls closer together as we approached the main Kings River 

 Canon. One more day down the banks of the South Fork, 

 past Mist Falls, and we were again with the main party which 

 had preceded us to Kanawyer's at the junction of Copper 

 Creek and the Kings River. 



We remained five days at Copper Creek. It was such a 

 delightful camp, with its memories of former outings, that we 

 hated to abandon it. The camp stretched along the river bank, 

 as busy at certain hours of the day as the sacred banks of the 

 Ganges. Washing, pulling up water in buckets and other 

 housekeeping duties here went merrily on; fishing and after- 

 noon tea parties were held, and last^ but not least, every after- 

 noon the famous swimming parties at the big rock. 



Many side attractions in the form of one-day trips kept us 

 in active training. Roaring River Falls were three miles 

 away, Granite Creek, two miles, and Sentinel Rock, with its 

 superior view, towered above us. I must not omit to mention 

 the famous two-day trip of three of our best mountaineers to 

 Colby Pass, a newly discovered crossing of the Kings-Kern 

 Divide, in the neighborhood of Milestone. 



