Our national parks . branches of the northfork of Owens River, near the southeastern boun-dary of the Park, at an elevation of ninety-fivehundred feet above the sea, is the best I everfound. It is not only delightfully cool andbright, but brisk, sparkling, exhilarating, and sopositively delicious to the taste that a party offriends I led to it twenty-five years ago stillpraise it, and refer to it as that wonderfulchampagne water ; though, comparatively, thefinest wine is a coarse and vulgar drink. Theparty camped about a week in a pine grove onthe edge of a little round sedgy meadow throughwhi
Our national parks . branches of the northfork of Owens River, near the southeastern boun-dary of the Park, at an elevation of ninety-fivehundred feet above the sea, is the best I everfound. It is not only delightfully cool andbright, but brisk, sparkling, exhilarating, and sopositively delicious to the taste that a party offriends I led to it twenty-five years ago stillpraise it, and refer to it as that wonderfulchampagne water ; though, comparatively, thefinest wine is a coarse and vulgar drink. Theparty camped about a week in a pine grove onthe edge of a little round sedgy meadow throughwhich the stream ran bank full, and drank itsicy water on frosty mornings, before breakfast,and at night about as eagerly as in the heat ofthe day; lying down and taking massy draughtsdirect from the brinmiing flood, lest the touchof a cup might disturb its celestial flavor. Onone of my excursions I took pains to trace thisstream to its head springs. It is mostly derivedfrom snow that lies in heavy drifts and avalanche. FOUNTAINS AND STREAMS 247 heaps on or near the axis of the range. It flowsfirst in flat sheets over coarse sand or shinglederived from a granite ridge and the metamor-phic slates of Eed Mountain. Then^ gatheringits many small branches, it runs through beds ofmoraine material, and a series of lakelets andmeadows and frosty juicy bogs bordered withheathworts and linked together by short bould-ery reaches. Below these, growing strong withtribute drawn from many a snowy fountain oneither side, the glad stream goes dashing andswirling through clumps of the white-barkedpine, and tangled willow and alder thickets en-riched by the fragrant herbaceous vegetationusually found about them. And just above thelevel camp meadow it is chafed and churned andbeaten white over and over again in crossing atalus of big earthquake boulders, giving it avery thorough airing. But to what the peculiarindefinable excellence of this water is due I dontknow; for other streams in adjacent canon
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