30 EXPLORATION OF THE CANONS OF THE COLORADO. 
seize at the moment, and even then they have their clothing burned and 
hair singed, and Bradley has his ears scorched. The cook fills his arms 
with the mess-kit, and, jumping into a boat, stumbles and falls, and away go 
our cooking utensils into the river. Our plates are gone ; our spoons are 
gone; our knives and forks are gone. "Water catch 'em; h-e-a-p catch 'em." 
When on the boats, the men are compelled to cut loose, as the flames, 
running out on the overhanging willows, are scorching them. Loose on 
the stream, they must go down, for the water is too swift to make headway 
against it. Just below is a rapid, filled with rocks. On they shoot, no 
channel explored, no signal to guide them. Just at this juncture I chance 
to see them, but have not yet discovered the fire, and the strange movements 
of the men fill me with astonishment. Down the rocks I clamber, and run 
to the bank. When I arrive, they have landed. Then we all go back to 
the late camp to see if anything left behind can be saved. Some of the 
clothing and bedding taken out of the boats is found, also a few tin cups, 
basins, and a camp kettle, and this is all the mess kit we now have. Yet 
we do just as well as ever. 
June 1 7. We run down to the mouth of Yampa River. This has been 
a chapter of disasters and toils, notwithstanding which the canon of Lodore 
was not devoid of scenic interest, even beyond the power of pen to tell. The 
roar of its waters was heard unceasingly from the hour we entered it until 
we landed here. No quiet in all that time. But its walls and cliffs, its 
peaks and crags, its amphitheaters and alcoves, tell a story of beauty and 
grandeur that I hear yet and shall hear. 
The canon of Lodore is twenty and three-quarter miles in length. It 
starts abruptly at what we have called the Gate of Lodore, with walls nearly 
two thousand feet high, and they are never lower than this until we reach 
Alcove Brook, about three miles above the foot. They are very irregular, 
standing in vertical or overhanging cliffs in places, terraced in others, or re 
ceding in steep slopes, and are broken by many side gulches and canons. 
