At an angle of the canyon below,
nearly opposite the steep trail up which we have just climbed, is the
eroded terminus of a great promontory, carved into a high and slender
pedestal upon which stands a rude figure not unlike one of the wooden
statues seen in the old Franciscan missions of California. Below this the
rock strata are curved and twisted into all kinds of shapes. In one place
there is a fold where the strata seem to have been curved and forced almost
into a circle.
"On this plateau we still see the canyon with its perpendicular gray stone
walls. It falls below our trail and we ride along the brink of it and down
in the bottom see the black entrance to a cave. Then we come to the dry bed
of a stream which we follow until we come to water. The quantity is small
but it is sweet and pure. We camp here; elevation six thousand one hundred
feet.
"The canyon walls are steep and the bottom narrow. We are in a heap
together, - rolls of bedding, camp-fire, burros, horses, mules, men, kyacks
containing food, saddles and packs, myself, etc., all in a very small
space.
The Charm of the North Side.
