Atop a huge shaded talus block are many bowl-shaped holes, a primitive gristmill where once the squaws ground acorns for their pounded bread, which was the staff of life for so many California tribes. Blackened cooking rocks may be found, and numerous stone pestles lying about in this and two or three similar places seem to point to a hurried departure, but the “when” and “why” of this exodus still remain a mystery.
THE NORTHERN CANYONS
North of the Tuolumne River is an enormous area of lakes and valleys which are seldom visited, notwithstanding that it is penetrated by numerous trails. It is a wilderness of wonderful charm and deserves to harbor a thousand camps. The trout fishing in many of these waters is unsurpassed.
Though unknown to people generally, this superb Yosemite country north of the Valley has been the haunt for many years of the confirmed mountain lovers of the Pacific coast. It has been the favorite resort of the Sierra Club during many years of summer outings.
THE MOUNTAIN CLIMAX OF THE SIERRA
The monster mountain mass, of which Mount Lyell, 13,090 feet high, is the chief, lies on the eastern boundary of the park. It may be reached by trail from Tuolumne Meadows and is well worth the journey. It is the climax of the Sierra in this neighborhood.
The traveler swings from the Tuolumne Meadows around Johnson Peak to Lyell Fork and turns southward up its valley. Huge Kuna Crest borders the trail’s left side for miles. At the head of the Valley, beyond several immense granite shelves, rears the mighty group, Mount Lyell in the center, supported on the north by Mount Maclure and on the south by Rodgers Peak.
The way up is through a vast basin of tumbled granite, encircled at its climax by a titanic rampart of nine sharp, glistening peaks and hundreds of spear-like points, the whole usually cloaked in enormous sweeping shrouds of snow. Presently the granite spurs inclose one. And directly, beyond these, looms a mighty wall of glistening granite which apparently forbids further approach to the mountain’s shrine. But another half hour brings one face to face with Lyell’s rugged top and shining glacier, one of the noblest high places in America. Mount Dana, with its glacier and great variety of alpine flowers, can be climbed in one day from Tuolumne Meadows and now offers a very popular hiking trip.
MERCED AND WASHBURN LAKES
The waters from the western slopes of Lyell and Maclure find their way, through many streams and many lakelets of splendid beauty, into two lakes which are the headwaters of the famous Merced River. The upper of these is Washburn Lake, cradled in bare heights and celebrated for its fishing. This is the formal source of the Merced. Several miles below, the river rests again in beautiful Merced Lake.