BISHOP, PIUTE, EVOLUTION, AND BUSY CREEKS 

 VIA MUIR PASS 

 (around the magic circle) 



By Chester Versteeg 



10NG shadows crept over frozen lake and snow- filled cirque far 

 below. Pinnacle and rampart stood fixed in outline under a 

 clear sky. Here we were, two lone mortals, far from camp, much 

 farther from the haunts of men. Perhaps no human foot had ever 

 trod this part of the Sierra Crest before. With the exaltation of that 

 hour unforgotten, I essay a description of the consummate grandeur 

 found in the heart of the Mount Goddard quadrangle. For this is a 

 story of things scenic, historical, geological, and perhaps practical, 

 gleaned during the trip of my wife and myself in that part of the 

 High Sierra in the latter half of July, 192 1. 



At Laws we reloaded the outfit and traveled nineteen miles by 

 auto stage via Bishop and up Bishop Creek on a good road to An- 

 drews Camp. Andrews is situated on the South Fork of Bishop 

 Creek, a mile above the junction of the South and North forks. The 

 meals are entirely satisfactory. Tent-houses and a few cabins accom- 

 modate fifty people. But Andrews is more than a mountain camp. 

 It is the beginning and the end of the magic circle. The mountaineer 

 leaves the auto and, at an altitude of eighty-one hundred feet, begins 

 travel with pack-train or knapsack. Whether he is headed for Piute 

 Pass on the North Fork or for Bishop Pass on the South Fork, he is 

 at once within the shadow of that mighty Sierra wall running from 

 the Palisades to Mount Humphreys. Le Conte called it "the finest 

 portion of the crest of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, their scenic 

 culmination, their final triumph." 



Pack and saddle animals rent for $1.50 a day. Our pack-train 

 boasted one of each, both horses. From the saddle-horn were sus- 

 pended two small dunnage-bags, while extra wraps were tied to the 

 back saddle-strings. The saddle-horse actually carried a human 

 pack less than one-third of the total distance. One of the privileges 

 of pack-animal travel when you haven't a professional packer to 

 bother you is that of ignoring common valley names and renaming 



