University High School - Cub Yearbook (Oakland, CA)

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Late in the afternoon we reach- ed the no1'th fork of the Kings river where we again camped. During this day another burro distinguished himself. Coley got his gears mixed and they seem- ed to stick. Mr. Earle describes 'cColey,' as all the Way in lowf, VVe stayed on the north fork all the next day and again tried swim- ming. Some of the real fishermen managed to catch a few fish in the river here. After deciding to get an early start, we arose next mo1'ning at fo11r a. m. and were ready to leave by six. Ilowever, We had to cross a suspension bridge in order to get over the river-fand, well, burros just donit like that kind of a bridge. VV ith the co-operation of all, we finally managed to bodily lift the animals over the dreaded span. That was indeed t1'ue sport, Sport? During the day We were thor- oughly squelched and had our spir- its quite dampened by several thun- der storms mixed with hail. We started to prepare for a sopping night by building a poncho villa , a minature circus tent, under which we slept. Of course, the stars shone all that night. The next day we entered the real wild rugged mountains. We de- scended into beautiful Tehipite valley, a second Yosemite, only Wilder and on a larger scale. The walls of the valley rise almost per- pendicular to a height of ten thou- sand feet. Tehipite dome is one of Left: Tehipite Valley. Center: A portion of Muir Glacier. Right: The members of the party grouped about one of a grove of giant trees. 37 l

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1 . ABOVE TEN. THOUSAND By Nathan Rowley 'gAnd we probably won't have any dinner or blankets tonight, well just have to make the best of it. Such were the words of Gil- bert Earle as he trudged up to the 'cadvance guardi' after an arduous day of hiking. This did not war- rant a very auspicious beginning for a Hwalki' of one hundred and sixty miles nor did it seem like the end of a perfect day. VVe, the John lNIuir club of 1926, had left Lake Huntington late the afternoon before and today had tried to hike a little extra to make up for lost time. There were eleven in the party. Gil Earle acted as manager and chief advisor of the group. Gil's father, lXIr. L. H. Earle, lNIr. R. E. B1'ownlee, Hal Earle, Tom Decker, Bill ltlurdoch, Amos Culbert, Frank Herberth, Don lNIcCown, Bob Perry and I, not to mention seven other burros which acted as pack animals, fin- ished the list. As near as Gil could make out, two of the boys and all the burros had taken the wrong trail early in the morning and were still going wrong. Luckily we were still in civilization and we managed to get food at some little camp. Just as we were finishing an early dinner and were preparing for a night on the cold, cold ground, the burros began to arrive. They continued to do so until half past eight that evening. According to Amos Cul- bert, the only benefit that he de- rived from having the burros take the wrong trail was that his vocabu- lary was greatly enlarged. To cap the climax, HlNIicky', was left up on the trail and some of us had to go back to get him. '4lNIickyi' in- troduced himself to all of us and some one prophesied that he would not let himself be forgotten by any one. VVe will read mo1'e of him later. Everybody took a much needed rest the next day and we found a second cousin to the Hole swimmin, holen, in which we all wet our toes. Late that afternoon, I rushed into camp eager to recite my experience onan exploration voyage. -And I saw a dead cow and a beautiful water fall and fell inf, I still can't see why everybody laugh- ed. The next morning after we finally b1'ibed uhlickyi' to move, the cavaleade again started forward. The mountains we were passing through were just mountains. VV e had. not yet come into real wild country. At about ten o'clock, we passed through the McKinley grove of big trees-the Sequoia gigantia variety. These trees were both interesting and unusual, being three hundred feet high, on the average, and from six thousand to eight thousand years old. By the time the party had pro- gressed this far, 'glNIicky', had firm- ly established his reputation. He will never be famous, only notori- ous. In passing we might say that lXIicky was a burro. The unusual thing about him was that it onlv took eight of us to put his pack on him. Also his feet insisted oi. wandering of f the trail toward the green grass. 36

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the few. solid blocks of stone in the world. Beside Tehipite dome, Crown Falls dash down into the valley. Opposite these falls on the other side of the valley are silvery streams that cascade through ra- vines of solid granite, almost straight up and down. Tehipite valley is only a wide place in the Kings river canyon, the middle fork of the Kings river flows through it. VVe hiked all afternoon between granite walls, and camped that night in beauti- ful Simpson meadows. During that day we saw three rattle snakes and killed two of them. These were the only snakes we saw all during the trip. YVe followed the Kings river up and over a trail blasted all the way over and through solid rock. As these rocks made treking difficult for every- body, we stayed a whole day near Grouse lNIeadows. The mountains we passed through were a series of ma jestic, rugged peaks. VVhile at Grouse lNIeadows some of the more industrious boys climb- ed a nearby peak to name it, only to find that the Sierra club had al- ready christened it ltlt. Shake- speare. The rest of us fished for Golden trout and had sev- enty-five of them baked for din- ner. The next high spot in our trip was when we climbed up to Pali- sade Glacier, the largest in the United States. VV'e left the bur- ros near the Kings river and dur- ing an afternoon hiked six miles to an elevation of twelve thousand feet. There were snow banks all around and only a few little trees of the white bark pine variety, which are the highest growing trees in the Sierra. We had taken a lit- tle food with us and each fellow had a poncho. Three big bonfires were built to last the night, and then we tried to sleep. Next morn- ing at four-thirty we started the real climb up to the glacier. The palisades are straight up one side and straight down the other. VVe managed to climb up a chimney and after three hours of scrambling over shale and boulders reached the top, at an altitude of fourteen thousand feet. We saw the glacier, took many pictures of it, and then slid down as best we could, to the bottom of the chimney. Un the eleventh day out we went up and over lNIuir Pass. Just be- fore reaching the top, we saw Helen Lake, the head waters of the Kings river. The top of lNIuir Pass is just over twelve thousand feet high. The ltluir club was the third party to go over this defile in the year 1926. We then started down and stopped rather early, the occasion being the preparation for the Fourth of July dinner, which was all that could be expected and more. VVe camped on the shore of Evo- lution Lake at the base of Darwin Peak. We found an abandoned fireless cooker, which caused Amos Culbert to suggest the bright idea, raisin pies. A drizzle of rain did its best to keep us from prepar- ing the Fourth of July banquet, but didn,t succeed. VVe made a large kettle of Jello and cooled it in a snow bank, and baked a chicken pie in the dutch oven we carried with us. Biscuits and jam with a choice of tea or punch or both com- pleted the menu. It was agreed 38