Colby Pass and the Black Kaweah 



127 



light and lanterns, and by continual calling and signaling located 

 our friends among the rocky talus on the opposite side of the 

 meadow. 



By 10:30 our friends were welcomed to a roaring camp-fire, and, 

 after getting into dry garments, we all partook of a hearty and 

 much-relished dinner. We then sat about the camp-fire and listened 

 to all the latest news, read very welcome letters, and shortly after 

 midnight retired. As the camp-fire died down the whole of the 

 Whaleback Basin was lighted by the glow of the full moon, making 

 a weird and strange sight. 



The next morning, after a late breakfast, we laid our plans for 

 the day. The camp should be moved up to the north shore of the 

 uncharted lake, and McKee and Brown would take some of the 

 pack outfit up to the pass and cache it, thus lightening the load for 

 the final ascent to be made the succeeding day. 



Triple Divide Peak — a peak well and attractively named — thrust 

 its head up above the tail of the Whale at the southern end of the 

 basin, plainly visible from our bench camp. We knew that the view 

 from that peak would be well worth while, so the two Nobles and I 

 decided upon the climb and planned to join the rest of our party at 

 the new camp at the lake above. In the clear mountain atmosphere 

 the peak looked close at hand and as though it could be reached in a 

 bee-line up the Whaleback Basin, across the tail of the Whale, and 

 thence across an intervening depression. It was a long climb to the 

 crest of the tail, and then to our consternation we were standing on 

 400-foot cliffs impossible of descent. As a result, we had to veer to 

 the east away from our bee-line course, climb over the top of the red 

 peak lying northeast of Triple Divide, go down to the saddle be- 

 tween the two peaks, and then by the Triple Divide knife-edge climb 

 to the summit — a long, arduous trip, but worth many times the exer- 

 tion required to make it. A snowball which I crushed on the top- 

 most point went part into the Kern, part into the Kings, and part 

 into the Kaweah. At our very feet to the west was the source of the 

 Kaweah River, which in a distance of twenty-five miles descends 

 nearly 12,000 feet to Three Rivers, at an elevation of 800 feet, 

 making probably the quickest and most rapid descent of any of the 

 streams on the western slope of the Sierra.* 



* See "The High Sierra of California." By Professor Joseph N. Le Conte, in Alpina 

 Americana, Number i. Published by the American Alpine Club. 1907. 



