January-May 1873, Yosemite Fall, Ice Cone, etc. Image 51

96 Alt [altitude] bench 500 Alt [altitude] first Big Pine on trail to Up [Upper] Fall 1000 Height 1100 ft 3 pieces gl [glacier] polished rock dir [direction] 50° from dir [direction] of greatest descent Largest 1 sq yd [square yard] Moraine boulders on left side of 2nd day Beaut [beautiful] snow fall 15 before 5 pm from shoulder towards Mirror Lake Also in morning over Sentinel front [Sent] [K] Most noble of all [ava] [on] Gl Pt [Glacier Point] gliding down curve & into forest with long backflowing hair Noble mien & voice 1st day 9 am Slope 30° from [ ] last [array] foot up portion of Slope from [Sunny] [Sunnyside] to top Yo Pt [Yosemite Point] 60° 97 hissing rushing gurgling that was not music I was disenchanted & realized [my] the situation. How clearly & rapidly ones thoughts [burn] at such times It was not to be or not to be but washed off or left on or allowed to escape [The idle wind] my fate was in the hands of the idle wind A breath this way or that [of the] would decide The [might] The heavy skirts of the fall swayed [outward] and aslant once more I was revisited by glimpses of the moon The part of the narrow bench on wh [which] [I] is was [crouched] was beveled off [sketch: Back [leans] [lower] side arches] on the edge by the force of the water in flood times therefore I took this first opportunity to venture an escape to a more secure place 8 or 10 ft further along was a block of ice between wh [which] & the wall I wedged myself & remained face downward [until] the steadiness of the moonlight proved that the fall was safely swayed & I ventured to leave my cold shelter & escapehttps://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/jmj-all/1505/thumbnail.jp