ajo
Mountain. No one had gone into it from the river, but we were told it
could be done. We hoped to find this bridge.

The current was swift, and we travelled fast, in spite of a stiff wind
which blew up the stream, getting a very good view of the mountain
from the river a few miles below our camp, and another view of the
extreme top, a short distance below this place, not over six miles
from the San Juan. We had directions describing the canyon in which
the bridge was located, our informant surmising that it was thirty
miles below the San Juan. We thought it must be less than that, for
the river was very direct at this place, and a person travelling over
the extremely rough country which surrounded this side of the mountain
slope would naturally have to travel much farther, so began to look
for it about twelve miles below camp. But mile after mile went by
without any sign of the landmarks that would tell us we were at the
"Bridge Canyon." Then the river, which had circled the northern side
of the peak, turned directly away from it, and we knew that we had
missed the bridge. At no point on the trip had we met with a
disappointment to equal that; even the loss of our moving-picture
film, after our spill in Lodore, was small when compared with it.

On looking back over the lay of the land, we felt sure that the bridge
was at one of the two places, where we had seen the top of the
mountain from the river. To go back against the current would take at
least three days. Our provisions were limited in quantity and would
not permit it; the canyon had deepened, and a second bench of sheer
cliffs rose above the plateau, making it impossible to climb out: so
we concluded to make the best of it, and pulled down the stream,
trying to put as many miles as possible between ourselves and our
great disappointment. This afternoon we passed from Utah into Arizona.
For the remainder of the trip we would have Arizona on one side of the
river at least. We had much the same difficulty this evening as we had
the night before in finding a camp. Judging by the evidence along the
shore, the high water which came down the San Juan had been a torrent,
much greater than the flood on the Colorado and its upper tributaries.

CHAPTER XVI

A WARNING

We camped that night at the Ute Ford, or the Crossing of the Fathers;
a noted landmark of bygone days, when Escalante (in 1776) and others
later followed the inter-tribal trails across thes