The 1^21 Outing 



257 



with gathering thunder-clouds and a cold wind discouraged any 

 undue lingering, but south and west the day was clear and the sun 

 shone down on a wild waste of barren peaks and ridges with tiny 

 lakes nestling at their bases. 



Another knapsack party, led by Mr. Chase, climbed Whorl Moun- 

 tain and both parties rejoined the club in its camp at Rodgers Lake. 

 This lake, set in a hollow of the mountains, fringed with forest, and 

 with Regulation Peak rising sheer from its shore-line, was perhaps 

 the most beautiful spot which the main party visited. Those who had 

 the good fortune to camp with the knapsackers will not easily for- 

 get Slide Canon when the moon rose behind the mountains, throw- 

 ing each point of the Sawtooth Range and the towering Matterhorn 

 into sharp relief, while the Finger Peaks shone like twin points of 

 silver and the black velvet shadows of the ragged pines rested like 

 dark islands in the flood of moonlight. From Rodgers Lake the 

 club went back over the same trail by Benson Pass and Matterhorn 

 Canon to another one-night camp in Virginia Canon, and the fol- 

 lowing day returned to the Soda Springs. 



Some of the first two weeks' party were to leave next morning, so 

 that evening those who had remained in camp during the side-trip 

 staged a vaudeville show, including a pantomime of "Bluebeard." 

 A row of stones marked the limits of the stage, two large bonfires 

 served as footlights, and the costumes were made of bathing-suits, 

 rugs, mosquito-nets, and other odds and ends that could be got 

 together. Bluebeard's chin was fringed with blue lupines, and the 

 heavy jeweled chain he wore proved on closer inspection to consist 

 of a fine selection of carrots and onions, borrowed from the com- 

 missary. 



The interval between the departure of the first two weeks' party 

 and the beginning of the second main side-trip on July 27th was 

 filled by various short trips, including two knapsack-trips, to Dana 

 and to Mount Conness. During this interval, too, Mr. Stephen T. 

 Mather, the Director of the National Park Service, paid the club a 

 visit and spoke at the camp-fire on the work of the Park Service in 

 the Yosemite. His statement that work was to be begun at once on 

 a continuation of the trail to the foot of the Waterwheels was greeted 

 with cheers by those who had scrambled through the manzanita a 

 few days previously. 



The second two weeks' party arrived at the Meadows on July 25th, 



MAY 1 ?. 1922 



