Notes and Correspondence 



315 



Sentinel Ridge down to where it breaks into Roaring River, over about as 

 rough mountain country as ever a person took animals without a trail. 



We camped on a little stream which we named Otter Creek on account of 

 the otter colony and the many otter-slides we found here. There was no evi- 

 dence of man ever having visited this locality. 



From this camp we were able to prospect Roaring River Gorge to our satis- 

 faction. J. N. Young, ex-supervisor of Tulare County, to whom Sequoia 

 National Park is indebted for the fine highway to the westerly boundary of 

 the park, and I took a gun, some fishing-tackle, a long pack-rope, and good 

 tennis shoes, and proceeded to go through the gorge. We were successful, but 

 could not have made it had the water been high. The trout in the gorge were 

 not fly-wise, so we filled our creels to the limit in half an hour. 



In places the gorge has perpendicular walls, not more than fifty feet apart, 

 polished as smooth as glass by glaciers and water. We had occasion to use 

 the rope, and in two places were compelled to make detours up the mountain- 

 side. Although the gorge proper is not more than a mile in length, it is quite 

 impractical to make a trail through it, as it would require at least three bridges 

 and from ten to twenty thousand dollars' worth of powder work. 



It is quite practical to make a trail a few hundred feet above the river 

 through an open-timbered country, dropping into Kings River Cafion about 

 a half mile west of Roaring River Falls. 



From the lowest saddle in the Sentinel Ridge, some fifteen hundred feet 

 above the floor of Kings River Canon, and not more than a mile from the 

 canon, I ducked an old deer trail on about the sixty-five-hundred-foot contour, 

 and the next day rode our horses to the junction of Sugar-Loaf Creek and 

 Roaring River without dismounting. Here we found the old trail up Sugar- 

 Loaf Valley to J. O. Pass. 



If a trail were opened up through here, it would make it possible to ride 

 from Giant Forest to Kings River Cafion in one day and open up a grand 

 scenic country that is now very difficult to reach. 



Lyell Fork of the Merced 

 In September, 192 1, I had the pleasure of making a ten-day excursion into 

 the Lyell Fork of the Merced River, a short account of which is as follows : 



Leaving Merced Lake we ascended the McClure Fork Trail to the junction 

 of the Isberg Trail, and continued thereon until a suitable camp-site was 

 found near the stream which heads on the southwest slopes of Mount Florence 

 and flows into the Merced just at the head of Lake Washburn. Our camp was 

 at a considerable elevation and quite close to the rim of the Merced Canon, 

 from which, at this point, a marvelous panorama is obtained — all the peaks 

 of the Merced group are in full view — but the most startling feature is the 

 vista of Lake Washburn, over two thousand feet directly below. We ascended 

 Mount Florence from this camp, meeting with no difficulties. This summit 

 affords a most comprehensive view of a large part of the Yosemite Park, and 

 many of the main elevations around the Yosemite Valley are easily seen. 



We proceeded on the Isberg Trail until we reached the Lyell Fork of the 



