I scramble down off Belshazzar and down a very steep hill. Mount
again and go on by myself, zigzagging up a steep hill. This is mostly
through an oak thicket without a trail. Over another ravine and I am sure
now we are near the end of our journey. Up another slight ascent and we
come in sight of the Canyon. We have left the tall trees and the thick
grass, and now have only mesquites, cedars, yucca and cactus. But we have a
good trail.
On Point Sublime. "At last we are on the Point itself. So ardently desired,
and with only an hour of daylight left, we begin to study the wonderful
panorama. I am photographed rounding up the burros. I am given a sheltered
place under a juniper tree for my bed, and make an arrangement with my
canvas to keep off the wind. A very comfortable bed. This Point runs out
far into the chasm, is narrow for a considerable distance, sides very
precipitous and the edges describing a very irregular line. Very near the
extreme end is a clump of cedars, with trunks and lower branches so densely
matted together as to form a good shelter on two sides from the wind (which
blows furiously). It is in this shelter that I place my bed, making with my
canvas a protection against the wind on the third side so that my sleeping
place is as cozy and warm as can be.
"Friday, Sept. 6, 1901. At Point Sublime. I sleep well and wake refreshed.
Many photographs are taken. The men go to explore another point not far off
and I stay in camp. I rest as well as I can in the face of such a
stupendous spectacle. Dutton's descriptions are wonderfully vivid and
accurate - yet words, do not convey ideas to those whose imagination is not
large enough to realize the full meaning of the words.
On the Return. "We start on the return at eleven o'clock having spent about
seventeen hours on the Point. At first we follow the trail by which we
came. Then our leader disregards the trail and makes our course in a more
direct line. We go over ridges, some of them terribly steep. We go through
several lovely valleys with the ridges that overlook the canyon on our
left. The air is still and cool down where we are, but we can see the tops
of the trees that show above the ridges tossed about in a violent wind and
can hear its roaring through the forest. We camp about three-quarters of a
mile from a spring, and by orders I sleep under a tree in company with many
beetles. It is very cold. Camp-fire is comforting.
Into the Canyon Again. "Saturday, Sept. 7, 1901. We leave camp at 8:20.
