Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1901-05-07
TRIP ABOVE TIE CLOUDS
Glowing Description Of a Noun.
tain Journey Told by Mrs.
J. r. Meeker.
Marshalltown Ladies and Others
Enjoy q Nine Mile Climb
on Mt. Wilson.
One Of the Attractive Trips Taken
by Visitors to Southern
California.

/ - 4
California.
A portion of family letter from Mrs.
j. Il. Meeker. who has been wintering in
southern California, cortaii.s a descrip
ltion Of a trip from Pasadena 10 Mount 8
Wilson, enjoyed by Marshalltown peo-
pie and others. in which she says:
For months we have been looking
longingly towards the Sierra Made
range, and signalling out Mount Wilson,
the highest, as the desirable point to
reach above all others, and We're watch I
| ing for the prop!tious moment and for a
| flock of the same feather to make the
aerial flight. The moment and the flock
| eliminated on Saturday morning last.
There We're five of US and being the I
Nestor. as to years. was therefore titled
ckaperone. We were off by times and III I
fine spirits, full OF anticipations which
| were fully realized. II Is seven miles |
| 10 the foot of the trail where We all took +
burros and began our five hours steady
/ climb on those ugly looking little beasts,
4 up and up. a distance Of nine miles, and /
TIC an altitude of 5000 feet. Sometimes
| we We're in fun View of the beautiful
Valley below, and sometimes, along the
most secluded paths. With nothing butt
towering rocks on one sids and deepl
lIrecipices on the other. or again where
Iinterlacing trees over the way cast a re-
freshing shade
II wish might describe the GRANDEUR
a.nd beauty of it all, but that is beyond
3 possibility, and so let ii sink into|
4 me, and hope for a time when you, too.
i can see for yourself and drink to your
FILL. We took our lunch and ate it at
4 Hennger's Flats, where we had cool
8 water and a half hours rest. The whole
4 norning had been overcast. Fortunately
4 saving our eyes from the glare of the
sun and our heads from its scorching
! heat and when We reached the Half
Way House fog was settling about Us.
4 which grew denser and t!enser. so that
the trees dripped and we were actually
{ in the clouds. With only short views on
every hand; hut on and on we went, eN-
perieneing no Inconvenience, as we were
!. all protected against the chill and damp
with warm wool garments. and Mrs
Il, Waldo had her fur cape. She felt the al
titude a little, but soon became accus-
s''tiiN'A " liititNIl iiAy VI
4 in strength.
II dismeunted three times on my way
lup. and such a relief as it is to stretch.
i ones limbs aud timber ones joints with
Il a half-mile climb and the donkey trail
Jig close after. BY O'clock we were
s happily located at Martins Camp a
mnst unique little yillage Of cottages
3 and tents, on a divide between Mount
q Wilson and Mount Harvard. with Santa
Anita canyon on the east and Eaton's
Il canyon on the west. We We're assigned
4 cur separate little apartment each hav-
Ling a tiny stove. plenty of dry kindlings
and wood. water in abundance and
clean, comfortable beds. and in ample
& tune for a freshening and a bountiful
:. Isteaming dinner While we were thus
,Inbsorbsd and absorbing. things wonder
II full were pteparing for US outside. and
$ when we stepped out upon the slightly
veranda of the Camp Dining Hall there
iswas awaiting us a scene never to be for
gotten. The mist which had enrsloped
shutting out the heavens
4 and the earth, had sunk away into the
canyons and valley below The sun
7 shone out Of a clear SIX adding his
: / blessing and glory as he sank repossful-
I ly behind the western peaks that rose
4 cut of that vast and phenomenal ocean
! of fog, like so many islands Of rock. Oh,
Oh. the effects were transcendent TIE
:, whole surface to the horizon was as
i white as the softest lutfiest cotton ara
9 as billowy as the fairest thunder caps III
a a summer sky, while tilniy veil
. wrapped the projecting peaks as with
g the shearest Illusion. then, as tiie tsri-
G light deepened. the whole scene eRsn ssi
from a snow white TO a pearly tins. ana
then to gray and blue. until You would
!. have said 1t was a noiseless ocean, with
: the beautiful valley and the sleeping
: cities at the bottom. Night had crept on
o apace: the stars twinkled, the moon
: lnoked Town from the zenith, and the
cold. crisp air drove us in to the warmth
and glow of blazing pineknots on the
campfire hearth. Such cheer one can
cal;r know all TIE s-ea. opea chs'.saass
. above the clouds when there is no stint
Of pitch and hemlock and pine. Two
9 hours later the great ocean of vapor
was condensed into dew on the thirsty
plain. The electric lights of the uncov-
: cred cities below were scntillating like
\ miniature CONSTITUTIONS, and The city 81
i the Angels answered to an eagle With
great wings outstretched. Such are tht
Mondrous transformations from exalted
> elevations.
n Morning dawned with a sun re-
i splendent. 1t was the Lords day, ane
= so we went up into His temple TO wor-
I ship. On our way up, a mile above tbs
q camp. we tarried a various points of in
q terest-first at Observatory Point, where
Harvard years ago equipped a force fol
astronomical observation and research
q on account of its favorable atmosphere,
y conditions; then at Mount Alta, Noun
: Markham, Signal Point, Prospect Point
y the Casino (the highest poinD, wher,
y Uncle Sam has set an hexagonal pedes
= tai of geographical survey, and left hi.
name upon it. Here one of our part,
made hold to mount and pose as Lib
D. crty Enlightenlng the World in he
n graceless mountain costume.
s. There We're many entertainments oil
a our upward way. but when at III o'clocl
ID we reached Echo Rock. projection
ly over abysmal depths below and over
IL looking the fair valley to the ocean, ans
,tl from the ocean to the horizon, with tn,
"a islands encompassed there we sanl
% Gown on the mataphorical foundation o
.. all things, and in the shadow of gian
ifroeS md lool,i,1p off over. tho ,yr.o