Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1906-09-26
A. WEEKS CAMP IN
THE MOUNTAINS.
Continued from first page.


fearing the consequences of sleep
ON the ground after the strenuous
exercise of the day, to which we
had not been accustomed. Returning
to camp we turned in. . This
consisted simply of crawling under
some blankets and quilts and,
with sweaty saddle blanket for a
pillow, making bluff at sleeping,
with the open sky above US. But
finally the fatigue of the days ride
and the murmur of the stream a few
feet away drove away all fear of
mouptain lions, bears, etc. and we
snored as we had never snored before.
1t seemed that we had just fallen to
sleep when the movemnts of our COM
panions awoke US and we were told
that it was about daylight and we
must be moving. Though stiff and
sore and with detected spirits we
looked and acted as cheerful as we
could and started in for another days
ride. While breakfast was being
prepared we discovered that one of
our horses had broken his hobbies
and started off on the trail towards
home. This meant merry chase for
him, we thought. but fortunately
our green-eyed, good natured guide
soon caught up with him and brought
him back to camp He then left us
and the remainder of the journey
we had to make alone.
After breakfast the process of pack
ing our goods upon the pack horse
and behind our saddles was gone
through with and we started off in
single file, on what seemed to be a
trip straight up the mountain side.
The incline was the steepest we had
yet experienced, and it was with
great difficulty and only by frequent
resting that the horses were able to
make the climb. 1t would be abso-
lutely impossible for an Iowa horse to
perform such feat. Every now and
then we had to stop and cut our way
through the timber with an AK which
we hal tied to one Of the saddles,
and throughout the whole ascent it
was dangerous and tiresome climb,
for we were going rapidly up the
side of the Grand Mesa, the great
mountain which we had to cross in
our journey. At such high alti-
tude we could climb but few feet
without giving out, and part of
the distance the only way we could
get along was to get off our horses
and catching ahold of their tails, let
them pull us up the steep mountain
side. To add to our difficulties, when
about half way up the incline, the
pack on the pack horse became loose,
and catching on rock hanging over
the trail, was torn off, the horse be-
great difficulty. 1t was a dangerous
place and we breathed sigh of relief
when we succeeded in repacking and
started out again. Here the trail be-
came almost invisible, and it was
only with extreme care and much
accommodating that we kept our
course.
Finally we came to the Trim rock"
a great perpendicular cliff of granite
which extends around the top of the
great mountain, miles in all direc-
", L.
which we thought could never be
solved. But Mr.. Barber, with his
intimate knowledge of the mountains,
guided the horses carefully along
the rocks until he fouGd semblance
of a trail worn in the rock, and
catching ahold of the horses tails.
they fairly ran up the cliff, several
hundred feet in heighth, and before
we could realize what was happen
ing, we were safely OH the top of
the Grand Mesa. two miles in the
air, where the air was light and
thin, the sky a deeper, more beautiful
blue than we had ever seen it, and
here and there in openings amid the
dense timber were large pastures of
heavy grass upon which immense
herds of cattle were feeding.
The Grand Mesa is large noun
tain, some seventy-five or eighty miles
long and thirty five miles wide, and
is over ten thousand feet above the
sea level There are several chains
of lakes upon it's surface and num-
Der of large reservoirs, in all about
sixty, from which water is carried
down the mountain streams and by
irrigation bitches to the valley for
hundreds of miles about, fertilizing
it and making it productive to a
superlative degree.
The ride across the great pastures
on the top Of this mountain was
decided rest from our experience of a
few hours before. and stopping be-
tween two reservoirs for "a few mo-
ments we let our horses Craze while
we partook of light lunch.
Just after we started out again it
commenced to rain. and was bitter
cold. We put on our overcoats, and
rode ON for an hour, when we sud-
denly discovered that we had lost