The daily sentinel., 1909-04-19

tcup there for the accommodation of
| the thirsty traveller. The spring is
just under an immense monument of
rock called by Otto, Columbus Mon
ument." This is a lovely spot and
the view from here is magnificent
After leaving the spring the climb
ing trial is again taken up and trav-
eled for another two miles and the
vistas and scenic pictures unfolded
must be seen to be appreciated AT
the end of these two miles the party
came to small creek and on the
opposite bank in a cluster of trees
was found Trail Camp the camp
of John Otto, the hermit trail build
er. This was as far as he has COM
pleted the trail. Therefore in a
period of less than three months this
man has constructed alone and single
handed four miles of difficult. wind
ing and marvellous pathway along
precipitous cliffs and hillsides, max
ing up one of the prettiest trails
imaginable, affording a view and ex-
perience that is at once exhileratiHg
and magnificent. Time and again
along this trail Otto has had to con-
tend with immense rocks and what
most men would consider impossible
and unmoyable obstacles yet in
some way he has gotten his trail over
or around or through these obstacles.
It is simply almost unbelievable,
that lone man could have accom-
plished such a task
Otto moves his camp from time to
time to keep in the neighborhood of
he point of the trail on which he is
working. He is now building toward
the top of great redstone mesa, the
wall of which rises hundreds of feet
above where his present camp is yet
he has mapped out the devious lines
of the course he will take to get to
the top and he proposes to have the
trail completed to the top within
another four or six weeks. To view
the dangerous and steep sides of this
frowning mountain side it would
seem that he could never scale it
much less construct a trail along its
reaches. Yet yesterday Otto guided
the party from the city along the pro-
posed route of this trail and with the
aid of ropes and tree limbs and with
this man pointing out every step to
take the members of the party finally
scaled the cliffs and reached the top.
The view from these is indescribable
in its beauty
Then Otto guided the party across
wild yet beautiful table land and
then another great bench or mesa
altitude of some 500 feet and from
the solid flat rock surface of high
mesa were able to look upon the
most inspiring and extensive pano-
rama of valleys, hills, snow capped
mountains, imaginable. Grand juno
ton, Fruita, the great sweep of or
chards. the Grand Mesa, the Book
Cliff, the Unaweep mountains. the
crest of the continental divide at
point near Lake City, are just a few
of the many things to be seen from
this magnificent height. Then going
south a little way Otto brought the
party to point where look down
ward brought into view big section
of the wonderful Monument Canon
and. Shackleton. Canon, with their
myriad of natural monuments and
wonderful rock walls. 1t was a
glorious view.
No further time will be occupied
in describing the beauties of these
canons. including Seven Per Cent
Canon, Horse Shoe Canon, Red
Canon, the series of great benches of
granite and sandstone, the forests of
pinions and scrub cedars, the wild
flowers, the deep gorges of this great
playground of nature of which our
people know so little and yet which
| is just at our doors.
A word about the great monuments
or rock monsters. Any one of them
is worth making trip many miles
! to see. The Garden of the Gods has
nothing to compare with what Otto
calls jefferson Monument 1t is a
mighty pile OF rock standing out
alone, rising to a height of about 325
! feet, about rs feet across at the base
and perhaps so feet in diameter at
the top, absolutely unscalable.
grim and wonderful sentinel of ma
ture. Then there are more than
score of other of these mighty giants
scattered through this wonderful
series of canons and gorges, They
are sights never TO be forgotten.
| There are a multitude of other
queer works of nature. In one place
there is crack in mountain. about
I lha -idih of a Indy and