128 



Sierra Club Bulletin 



At the saddle, between Triple Divide and the red peak, we found 

 foot-prints and a handkerchief filled with roots. Robinson Crusoe 

 was not more surprised at Friday's prints in the sand. Had Dr. 

 Rixford crossed here? — and, if so, where had he gone?* 



Returning from Triple Divide, we took a direct course toward the 

 west side of the Whaleback, climbed a talus-slope up the tail of the 

 Whale to a low notch, descended into the Whaleback Basin, and 

 thence to the unmapped lake. It was late when we came over a 

 shoulder just before reaching the lake. The alpenglow cast a glori- 

 ous pink over the Great Western Divide before us and brought out 

 in great detail the pass for which we were headed on the morrow. 

 Young Noble, a good climber full of energy, had led the trip prac- 

 tically all day and was ahead. Suddenly he shouted: ''They're at 

 the pass !" Sure enough, high up on the rocky slope below the pass, 

 we could faintly see Brown and McKee with the tiny pack-animals 

 moving slowly upward. Now and then they would stop for further 

 trail-building. Finally they reached the two projecting rocks of 

 which I have spoken as too close for the packs to pass, and shortly, 

 through the glasses, we saw them unpacking and caching the outfit. 

 Just at dusk they started down, and in half an hour (an incredibly 

 short time for the distance) , just as darkness had settled, rode into 

 camp, on the north side of the lake. (Elevation, 10,500 feet.) 



Plans were made for an early start. The packers said it would 

 be necessary to build the trail in the two places where boulders 

 obstructed the packs. Accordingly, early the next morning Williams 

 and I started ahead with shovel and mattock to make the places 

 passable. In an hour we were at work and kept it up steadily for 

 two hours, filling in and raising the trail between the two closely 

 converging rocks so that the packs would clear them, and building 

 up and around the other projecting boulder. At 10:15, looking far 

 down, we could see the pack-train just leaving the lake. At 12:45 

 thirteen people, nine pack-animals, and four saddle horses stood on 

 Colby Pass amid great rejoicing. After a delightful luncheon, with 

 raspberry sherbet as a dessert, a monument was built and in it Mr. 

 Kellogg deposited the following record: 



* Note. — Since returning home, Dr. Rixford tells us that he crossed here, carrying his 

 packs to the saddle, and then descended a thousand feet to a lake on a shelf high above 

 the Kern-Kaweah. Here his way was blocked by some cliffs and he was forced to camp, 

 without feed for his burros and no fuel larger than gooseberry bushes. He thinks a trail 

 can be found, but in his limited time could not work it out. The next day he returned 

 over the same route and left Cloudy Canon by Miner's Pass. It was his tracks we had 

 seen when on Glacier Ridge. 



