Rocky Mountain trip 
Sept. 20th : Homeward Bound-- Followed our little 'drag 
war" trail directly toward the LaPlata. Came in an hour canonceta 
spring and five or six miles farther on struck the large trail 
which we followed for two days out from Dolores. To our surprise 
a party with wagons and cattle had passed along, going toward 
Parrott City. Crossed the wagon trail and hurried 021 toward the 
Dolores. Came at midday to the brink of a precipitous gulch that 
led down to the Canon at a point almost on a line between Aba jo - 
and Lone Cone. -The glimpse of the canon afforded was fine mid I 
was almost startled at the great depth and unexpected steepness. 
7/e had expected to cross but such a feat was out of the question. 
7/e must follow up the right side of the river until we reached/ 
the point at,which I had crossed last year. The trail which we 
had followed did not enter the canon but terminated at a spring 
. near the head of the gulch just mentioned. Ho. 1, of which there 
appears perhaps a hundred feet, caps the canon wall and gives 
sharp cliffs and angles along the upper edges. Under this is a 
steep slope of some 800 or 900 feet occupied by the Jurassic 
sandstones and marls. This part is much pinon covered. Beneath 
this slope appears the red vertical walls of the triassic, which 
extend as far down as I was able to see. The impossibility of 
seeing to the bottom, together with the steepness and extreme 
narrowness, made the view very impressive. The depth is prob¬ 
ably 14 or 1500 feet. This is probably near the deepest part 
as the plateau seems to break off to the north and slopes off to 
tlie south. T/e lunched and turned our faces toward Laplata again. 
Late in the evening we descended into the canon some three miles 
below our crossing point last year and camped about h mile below 
