o
manage supplies. Pack ponies are out of the
question, for the trail leads for six miles over
fallen trees and through dense growth. After half
an hour, our packs and bed rolls adjusted, we
started off at a good even pace for the river.

For one mile hiking was comparatively easy. Then
we had to cross the river over a fallen tree. The
girls could not do this and carry their packs, so
the men made several trips after which we all
crossed. The time taken in crossing the river was
equivalent to, a good rest, so as soon as the last
member of our party was over, we readjusted our
packs and started on our way.

The trail now led through a dense fir forest with
its scattering spruce and hemlock. For a mile it
led along the high bank of the Deschutes River
where we could look far down into myriads of
jade-colored pools; then for a mile into the very
heart of the woods among masses of glassy,
dark-green ferns, and clumps of feathery, tossing
maiden-hair; through Oregon grape, bright arsenic
green and brilliant red. Here and there we came to
a fairy-like dell, carpeted with red and green
moss, starred with hundreds of flat five-petalled
white blossoms. At the far corner of this nook,
more unprotected where the sun shone, was a clump
of the blue and white butterfly blossoms of the
Mountain Lupine. In one of these dells we stopped
for our luncheon. It was just past that silent
hour of the woods and we could hear twigs snapping
under the feet of moving animals. Birds were
singing and it was the one time of day when there
is a perfume in the dense woods such as we were
in; a drugged perfume of sweet clover, the
flowered mosses and scattered Lupine. Before
leaving we each ate an orange we had been told to
bring, as mountain water taken on a hike winds one
too quickly. During the hike we could chew dried
prunes at any time, but absolutely no water could
we have until we reached camp.

The trail then led back to the river bank and
along it over fallen logs and among trees deeply
laden with hanging silver