SIERRA CLUB BULLETIN, VOL. X.

SUSPENSION BRIDGE ACROSS MIDDLE FORK OF KINGS RIVER AT SIMPSON MEADOWS
Constructed during 1916 by U. S. Forest Service

Photo by District Ranger Roy Boothe

These figures are the result of careful estimates by Rangers Clingan and Slinkard. I have also been over practically the entire route and agree that the figures are about right, as judged by our past experience in similar country.

If in accordance with the desires of the State of California, I would recommend that the above amounts be expended on this project whenever funds are made available. I attach herewith topographic sheets showing the proposed route as outlined.

Respectfully submitted,

S. W. WYNNE,

Hot Springs, California,

Forest Supervisor

October 9, 1916.

On the Sierra National Forest the trail through the cañon of the Middle Fork of Kings River was completed from the mouth of Cartridge Creek to the mouth of Palisade Creek, a very difficult piece of construction. From the mouth of Palisade Creek it was continued up the Middle Fork to a point some two miles above Little Pete Meadow and about three miles from Muir Pass, where the trail will cross the Goddard Divide.

This point was reached from the north in 1915, when the John Muir Trail was completed from the South Fork of San Joaquin River up Evolution Creek to Muir Pass; thus, only the length of three miles south from the pass to the point where work was discontinued on the Kings River side at the end of the present season remains to be completed. In order to accommodate the Sierra Club's outing party, which will cross the Goddard Divide early in the field season of 1917, Supervisor M. A. Benedict succeeded in having a preliminary trail constructed across the uncompleted three-mile stretch before weather conditions prevented further work.

The following information concerning work within the Sierra National Forest is given by Supervisor Benedict:

I am enclosing a map showing the amount of work completed
in 1916, and also showing the preliminary trail from the end of the
completed work toward Muir Pass for the accommodation of the
Sierra Club's outing party next July. At least three miles of this
preliminary trail will be covered by snow when the Sierra Club
party goes through, and I anticipate no trouble over the remainder
of the trail to Barrier Rock, where the completed trail ends.
The work was classified into three different types:

Type A-Solid rock, from 10 per cent to 45 per cent slope.
Type B-Talus.

Type C-General type, including dry and wet meadows, talus
covered with earth, flat solid rock, gravel and dirt
slopes.

Following is a tabulation of the work done under each type, and its cost:

193.20
448.90 30.00 392.46 1,140.20

169.80 10.00 148.80 446.25 70.00

44,920 446 950.90 145.00 829.56 2,473.81 264.00

77,600 526 $1,120.70 $155.00 $978.36 $2,920.06 $211.00

Packing of equipment and supplies, prorated over work, $666.

Subsistence cost $1.68 per day per man, including cook, food,

freight, and packing.

Our expense record shows

Supervision and labor, Forest Service, approximately $200.

With the balance of a little over $1500 on hand, and with powder, tools, and camp equipment sufficient to run a crew almost the entire season, it is planned to start a twelve-man crew in Evolution Creek on July 1, 1917. This amount will run the crew at least a month, when it is hoped that a new appropriation by the state will be available.

I am very much interested in getting suggestions for a distinctive marker for this trail. Most of the country will not be through any timber where blazing can be done. My suggestion is the use of a three-foot length of asphaltum-dipped, three-quarter-inch iron

pipe, with a white disc six inches in diameter, with a black letter "M" stenciled on it; this stencil to be put on both sides of the disc. This marker can be placed at intervals not to exceed one hundred yards, and will make a permanent and distinctive guide. Of course, these will be supplemented by "ducks"; but "ducks" become destroyed by the elements and loose pack stock, and I believe some distinctive marker should be used, whether it is the one I have suggested or a better one. This marker, of course, will be supplemented by a large number of descriptive ones.

The work accomplished with the single appropriation of $10,000 which was made by the state legislature in 1915, has exceeded all expectations. With it a passable route along the entire crest of the High Sierra has been opened and some of the finest scenery in the United States has thus been made accessible. However, this passable route must not be understood to be a finished trail, for, indeed, much of it is only over the trails which already existed, and these without repairs or rebuilding of any kind. Some of this route which has been made passable is not even over the official route of the John Muir Trail. From the mouth of Palisade Creek the trail is yet to be constructed up Palisade Creek to the South Fork of Kings River and down the latter, via Woods Creek, Rae Lake, and Glenn Pass, to Bullfrog Lake. This section has been carefully explored, located, and estimated. Its construction now only awaits the necessary funds. Appropriations should be made by the state for continuing the work until the entire trail from Yosemite to Mount Whitney is completely constructed.

In addition to the John Muir Trail, lateral trails at frequent intervals are very desirable. With these the main trail would be easily accessible, and stretches of it could be visited by those who cannot afford the time to travel throughout its entire length.

TEHIPITE-SIMPSON MEADOWS TRAIL

A good trail through the cañon of the Middle Fork of Kings River from Tehipite Valley to Simpson Meadows has long been needed, but funds for improving the existing trail have heretofore not been available. The completion of the trail through the upper portion of the Middle Fork Cañon from Simpson Meadows to Palisade Creek and of the John Muir Trail from Palisade Creek across the Goddard Divide to the South Fork of San Joaquin River, during the past season, made this construction more necessary than ever before, as a trip which will no doubt be very popular will be through Tehipite Valley, the Middle Fork Cañon via Simpson Meadows, over Muir Pass, down Evolution Creek, and out through the basin of the San Joaquin River, or the reverse. In fact, it is this very route which will be followed by the 1917 outing of the Sierra Club.

Before the opening of the field season of 1916 the Directors of the Sierra Club brought the urgent need of rebuilding this trail to the atten