CHAPTER XIV.

“The Pine,—Magnificent! nay, sometimes almost terrible. Other trees, tufting crag or hill, yield to the forms and sway of ground, but the pine rises in serene resistance, self-contained."

RUSKIN.

Excursion up Mount Macdonald.-Recross Bear Creek.-Difficulties of the Tote road.

WHILE eating our breakfast at 5 A.M., we made plans for the day. Our great difficulty was the horse; we wished that he might vanish into thin air now that he had brought our provisions so far, for if we were rid of him, we could make a lengthened expedition from our present camp.

As, however, we did not see our way to help the poor beast into the spirit-world by slow starvation, and as he looked so patient and friendly, although he must have felt very hungry, we were obliged to give him due consideration. We decided, therefore, that he must not remain for another twenty-four hours without food, and that however high we might wish to climb during the day, we must return to camp

CH. XIV.] THE ASCENT OF MACDONALD.

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in time to proceed down through the steep forest with the horse and regain the banks of Bear Creek before dark-that was the nearest place where anything of the nature of herbage could be found.

Packing the cameras, plane table, and some provisions in our knapsacks, we set off at six o'clock with the intention of getting up as high as was possible on Mount Macdonald, in the time we allowed ourselves. We followed the ridge upwards through the forest, which here was very dense and choked with logs and scrub, and, as the ascent was very steep, our progress was slow. Gradually the ridge narrowed, and as we skirted the brink of a great declivity overhanging Beaver Creek, we got through the trunks, a striking view of the river, meandering through its forest-clad valley, and of the eastern face of Mount Sir Donald with a hanging glacier close to the summit. Below this glacier the mountain looked nearly as difficult as on the side facing Glacier House, and the mountain spurs between us and it were high and precipitous. From these observations, the advice I would give to any one desirous of approaching the range from the eastward, is this

-Raft the Beaver below its junction with Bear Creek there is, I believe, a trail leading up the valley on the right bank of the river; follow this till opposite Sir Donald, and then re-cross the Beaver as best you can.

After about three hours' scrambling through forest, the trees became more gnarled and dwarfed in their growth, and the mossy hollows held banks of snow. Then we issued from the dark gloom of the pines on to a rocky ridge, into the blaze of the sunshine and the full view of a wide panorama including the most striking features of the Selkirks, the rocky peaks on the Watershed, the strange Prairie hills, the glaciers of the Hermit range, and beneath our feet the dark, deep ravine of Rogers pass, through which the railway wound its way, looking from our elevation like a thin hair-line twisting about with innumerable curves. The huge cliffs bounding the pass, and towering 5,000 feet above it, presented from this point of view a most imposing spectacle, while

"On the torrent's brink beneath

Behold the tall pines dwindled as to shrubs

In dizziness of distance"

We ascended the rocky ridge, now gaining views down the cliffs to Rogers pass on the right, and then into the great ravine filled with a glacier on our left. At 10 A.M. we halted at a bank of snow, to partake of some food. The ascent was for the most part like going up a great staircase, the whole ridge being broken into angular blocks of rock. The rocks composing the ridge of Mount Macdonald are probably the most ancient of any we met with in the Selkirks. Mica schists predominated, these in many

XIV.] THE VIEW OVER BEAVER CREEK.

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places were full of small garnets, in some cases replaced by curious pseudomorphs of mica. Professor Bonney, who kindly examined a specimen of the rock with many others which I brought home, expressed his opinion. that it was no doubt of Archæan age.

At 11 A.M. we had reached the length of our tether, so far as time was concerned; so we halted on a little peak, which is plainly visible from the railway, 3,000 feet below, and setting up the plane table, I went to work at my mapping, while H. took a series of photographs and Ben prospected for specimens of rock. It was a most lovely day, and the view over the Beaver Creek valley to the Prairie hills, and away to the whole range of the Rockies, was most splendid. The further we advanced, however, towards the summit of Mount Macdonald, the more the buttresses flanking the main range closed in on each other, and offered less favourable positions for delineating their outlines.

We now became more impressed than ever, with the great difficulties which would have to be encountered, in any attempt to travel up the valley, at the foot of the spurs from the main range, and it seemed to us, that in order to get to the eastern base of Mount Sir Donald, the best route of all would be, to cross the watershed direct from Glacier House by one of the cols near Eagle peak. These we hoped we might have time to explore.

At 12.30 P.M. we began to retrace our steps, and after a delightful rock-scramble in the bright, clear air, we re-entered the forest, and plunged and slid and clambered down through the everlasting scrub and the tangle of dead and living trees.

It was easy enough to keep the right course when ascending, as all ribs of the mountain converged to the arête. Descending was quite another matter, and ere long we became convinced that the ridge we were following was not the one we had ascended by. Being completely enveloped in vegetation, we could see nothing that was a hundred yards distant in any direction. The sky was only visible in small patches. We first thought we had diverged too much to the right, and made a most difficult traverse to the left; then by my aneroid I knew that we were below the level of our camp, so we crossed back to the right, and ascending a couple of hundred feet, found our camp and our horse all safe and sound. halted to boil the kettle and have dinner, and then making up the packs, we stowed them on the horse and began the descent to Bear Creek, sliding and smashing through dead branches just as before. Ben showed the most consummate skill in being able to keep a grip of the halter and stop the horse whenever, after jumping a fallen log, he seemed in danger of going all the rest of the way in a single tumble. The shades of evening were closing in when

We