46 



Sierra Club Bulletin 



o£ Fish Canon can fail to identify it. As far as I have been 

 able to ascertain, it has no name, and I propose that the name 

 Mount Izaak Walton be given to the whole spur, and that the 

 dominating tower at the end be called Piscator Peak. In view 

 of its relation to Fish Canon, I submit these names as singular- 

 ly appropriate. 



The trail down Fish Cafion is uneventful until at a level of 

 about eight thousand feet it crosses to the left bank of the 

 creek and is forced up the canon side as the bed of the stream 

 becomes choked between impassable walls. A stiff climb and a 

 corresponding descent on the other side of the ridge away 

 from the creek will bring you to a hot spring. A little farther 

 on the trail emerges into Fish Valley, rejoining the creek. At 

 the lower end of the valley is an excellent meadow, where even 

 in such a season of scarcity as last year there was sufficient feed 

 reserved for saddle and pack animals. If camp has been made in 

 Cascade Valley the preceding night. Fish Valley can be reached 

 by noon. But it is not advisable to proceed farther that day. 

 The fishing is excellent here and it is a good place for resting. 



The Devil's Postpile is distant an easy day's journey from 

 Fish Valley. The trail leaves the valley near its lower end and 

 climbs out over a spur of Pumice Butte that enters the angle 

 between Fish Creek and the main stream of the Middle Fork 

 of the San Joaquin River. Continuing northward, the route 

 follows Crater Creek for a way and then surmounts another 

 slight ridge to the west, climbs some more, and finally comes 

 to the main waters of the Middle Fork of the San Joaquin close 

 to Rainbow Falls. Here is one of the treasure-spots of the Si- 

 erra, a lacy curtain of shining white water falling some eighty 

 feet over a ledge of black basalt. In form the fall suggests the 

 Vernal in Yosemite, but in surroundings and general character 

 it is unique. About two miles farther is the Devil's Postpile. 

 Here indeed is one of the wonders of the world, not half 

 enough appreciated by the people of the United States. It is 

 one of the three best examples known of the phenomenon of 

 basalt columnar formation. The other two are the Giants' 

 Causeway on the coast of County Antrim, Ireland, and Fingal's 

 Cave on the island of Staff a, Scotland, both famed far and 

 wide in Europe as popular wonders and scientific specimens. 



