argest of the several
shrunken fields of moving ice which still remain, he finds, from the
summit of Flattop Mountain, a broad spectacle of real sublimity.

But there is a greater viewpoint close at hand. Crossing the Flattop
Trail which here ascends from the settlements below on its way to the
west side, and skirting the top of the Tyndall Glacier, a scramble of
four hundred feet lands him on the summit of Hallett Peak, 12,725 feet
in altitude. Here indeed is reward. Below him lies the sheer abyss of
the Tyndall Gorge, Dream Lake, a drop of turquoise in its depths; beyond
it a moraine reaches out upon the plateau--six miles in length, a mile
and more in width, nearly a thousand feet in height, holding Bierstadt
Lake upon its level forested crown, an eloquent reminder of that ancient
time when enormous glaciers ripped the granite from these gorges to heap
it in long winding hills upon the plains below. Turning southerly, the
Wild Gardens further spread before his gaze, a tumble of granite masses
rising from lake-dotted, richly forested bottoms. The entrance to Loch
Vale, gem canyon of the Rockies, lies in the valley foreground.
Adjoining it, the entrance to Glacier Gorge, showing one of its several
lakes, rests in peaceful contrast with its impressive eastern wall, a
long, winding, sharp-edged buttress pushing southward and upward to
support the northern shoulder of the monster, Longs Peak, whose squared
summit, from here for all the world like a chef's cap, outlines sharply
against the sky. Hallett Peak welcomes the climber to the Heart of the
Rockies at perhaps their most gorgeous point.

South of Hallett difficult going will disclose new viewpoints of supreme
wildness. Otis Peak, nearly as high as Hallett, looks down upon the
Andrews Glacier, and displays the length of Loch Vale, at whose head
towers Taylor Peak, a giant exceeding thirteen thousand feet.

I have not sketched this tour of the continental divide as a suggestion
for travel, for there are no trails, and none but the mountaineer,
experienced in pioneering, could accomplish it with pleasure and
success, but as a convenient mode of picturing the glories of the
continental divide. Some day a trail, even perhaps a road, for one is
practicable, should make it fully accessible to the greater public.
Meantime Flattop Trail invites valley dwellers of all degrees, afoot and
horseback, up to a point on the divide from which Hallett's summit and
its stupendous vie