ace affording a good hold, so there was little danger of slipping.
We usually sat down and "inched" way to the edge of the cracks,
jumping across to little ledges when possible, always helping each
other.

The rock at the very edge of the main canyon overhung, in places 75 to
100 feet, and the great mass of gigantic boulders--sections of
shattered cliffs--on the steep slope near the river gave evidence of a
continual breaking away of these immense rocks.

To the north, across the canyon up which we had climbed, were a great
number of smooth formations, from one hundred to four hundred feet
high, rounded on top in domes, reminding one of Bagdad and tales from
the Arabian Nights. "The Land of Standing Rocks," the Utes call it.
The rock on which we stood was light gray or nearly white; the river
walls at the base for a thousand feet above the river were dark red or
chocolate-brown; while the tops of the formations above this level
were a beautiful light red tint.

But there were other wonders. On the south side of the Colorado's
gorge, miles away, were great spires, pointing heavenward, singly and
in groups, looking like a city of churches. Beyond the spires were the
Blue Mountains, to the east the hazy LaSalle range, and nearest of all
on the west just north of the Colorado lay the snow-covered peaks of
the Henry Mountains. Directly below us was the Colorado River, muddy,
swirllng, and forbidding. A mile away boomed a rapid, beyond that was
another, then the river was lost to view.

Standing on the brink of all this desolation, it is small wonder if we
recalled the accounts of the disasters which had overtaken so many
others in the canyon below us. Many who had escaped the water had
climbed out on to this death trap, as it had proven to be for them,
some to perish of thirst and starvation, a few to stagger into the
ranch below the canyon, a week or more after they had escaped from the
water. Small wonder that some of these had lost their reason. We could
only conjecture at the fate of the party whose wrecked boat had been
found by the Stone expedition, a few miles below this place, with
their tracks still fresh in the sand. No trace of them was ever found.

For the first time it began to dawn on us that we might have tackled a
job beyond our power to complete. Most of the parties which had safely
completed the trip were composed of several men, adding much to the
safety of the expedition, as a whole. Others had boats