but again without results. By now, you may be sure,
we had found an easier way home! This was a very hard day's work, but
uneventful.

Now, four days later, I crossed the river and set off above to explore
in the direction of the Continental Divide. Of course I had no intention
of climbing for goats, or, indeed, of hunting very hard for anything. My
object was an idle go-look-see. Equally, of course, after I had rammed
around most happily for a while up the wooded stream-bed of that canon,
I turned sharp to the right and began to climb the slope of the spur,
running out at right angles to the main ranges that constituted one wall
of my canon. It was fifteen hundred nearly perpendicular feet of hard
scrambling through windfalls. Then when I had gained the ridge, I
thought I might as well keep along it a little distance. And then,
naturally, I saw the main peaks not so _very_ far away; and was in for
it!

On either side of me the mountain dropped away abruptly. I walked on a
knife edge, steeply rising. Great canons yawned close at either hand,
and over across were leagues of snow mountains.

In the canon from which I had emerged a fine rain had been falling.
Here it had turned to wet sleet. As I mounted, the slush underfoot grew
firmer, froze, then changed to dry, powdery snow. This change was
interesting and beautiful, but rather uncomfortable, for my boots,
soaked through by the slush, now froze solid and scraped various patches
of skin from my feet. It was interesting, too, to trace the change in
bird life as the altitude increased. At snow line the species had
narrowed down to a few ravens, a Canada jay, a blue grouse or so,
nuthatches, and brown creepers. I saw one fresh elk track, innumerable
marten, and the pad of a very large grizzly.

The ridge mounted steadily. After I had gained to 2,300 feet above the
canon I found that the ridge dipped to a saddle 600 feet lower. It
really grieved me to give up that hard-earned six hundred, and then to
buy it back again by another hard, slow, toilsome climb. Again I found
my way barred by some unsuspected cliffs about sixty feet in height.
Fortunately, they were well broken; and I worked my way to the top by
means of ledges.

Atop this the snow suddenly grew deeper and the ascent more precipitous.
I fairly wallowed along. The timber line fell below me. All animal life
disappeared. My only companions were now at spaced-out and mighty
intervals the big bare peaks that ha