Then as he seemed to pay no attention and to be harmless, she and her young began to graze again, and shortly disappeared.
Before long we arrived at what may be called the "jumping-off place." In reality it is a steep descent into the depths of a wide canyon, but earth has so lodged in the rocky slopes that they are covered with dense growths of trees and chaparral, so that it is impossible to see very far ahead.

Down, down, down we went, winding and twisting, curving around and dodging, but getting deeper with every zig-zag until almost as suddenly as we began the steep descent we found ourselves on a fairly level platform.

Hell Hole was reached.
The day spent here was a delightful one.

While Watson fished I wrote, loafed, rambled about, studied the rock formations, and wished for a week or more instead of a day.
Next morning we struck into the canyon of the Rubicon River, for Soda Spring, half a mile away, where salt and soda exude in such quantities as to whiten the rocks.

Here the deer, bear, grouse, quail, ground-hogs, and other creatures come for salt.