Galen Clark Galen Clark was the best mountaineer I ever met, and one of the kindest and most amiable of all my mountain friends.

I first met him at his Wawona ranch forty-three years ago on my first visit to Yosemite.

I had entered the Valley with one companion by way of Coulterville, and returned by what was then known as the Mariposa trail.

Both trails were buried in deep snow where the elevation was from 5000 to 7000 feet above sea level in the sugar pine and silver fir regions.

We had no great difficulty, however, in finding our way by the trends of the main features of the topography.