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Sierra Club Bulletin 



few scattered albicaulis. The alpine valley leads directly to the 

 base of the last steep rocky ascent. This ascent rose probably looo 

 feet in elevation to the supposed pass, and for the whole distance lay 

 at an angle of forty degrees. The way was up a broad chute 300 

 feet in width, bounded north and south by rocky walls, gradually 

 converging as they neared the saddle. The forty-degree slope was 

 composed of rocks and boulders of all sizes, scattered about pro- 

 miscuously and all imbedded in loose granite, gravel, and sand. In 

 a few places patches of snow lay in the chute. 



Those afoot ascended rapidly, using here and there the remnants 

 of an old sheep-trail which had withstood the ravages of slides and 

 weathering, looking back now and then to see how the horsemen had 

 progressed. Each time we could see that they were coming steadily 

 on. An hour's climb brought us to the summit (12,000 feet), and 

 for the first time we knew it was the pass. It lies about one and a 

 half miles from Milestone and is the first real saddle southwest of 

 that mountain. It is about three miles in a straight line southeast of 

 the northern end of the Whaleback. By our trail it is about five. 

 The east side was an easy, gentle slope down toward Milestone 

 Bowl,* and then on down to the canon of the Kern-Kaweah. The 

 pass once gained, the rest would be easy. We all waited at the pass 

 for an hour, enjoying the view and watching the men as they built 

 stretches of the trail and then moved their horses gradually upward. 

 They moved, slid, and rolled tons and tons of rocks. None was too 

 large for them to tackle. Sometimes a small avalanche would go 

 sweeping down, perhaps carrying away portions of the trail already 

 built by them. They were as strong as giants, and the high altitude 

 seemed to make little difference in their energy. Someone jokingly 

 remarked that the topographical maps would have to be altered 

 to meet the changed conditions wrought by these assiduous trail- 

 builders. 



After watching the trail-workers for an hour or more, until the 

 men were perhaps one-third of the way up the slope, the members 

 of the party decided to return to camp. I remained to lend encour- 

 agement to the trail-builders, assisting as best I could, and fre- 

 quently taking photographs as the work progressed. Little by little 

 the horses were gotten nearer and nearer the pass — now twenty-five 

 feet, now fifty or even one hundred feet at a stretch. At exactly 1 125 



* Not "Bow." See Sierra Club Bulletin, vol. II, No, 3, page 188. 



