Sierra Journal, Summer of 1869, v. 2, 1869 [ca. 1887], Image 37

68 Shall I ever know them, shall I be allowed to enter into their midst & dwell with them? [The noonday showers have set in again and] we were [well] pelted about noon [today] by a short & heavy rainstorm. The thunder reverberating among the mountains & canyons was [most] sublime some strikes [claps] were [very] near & clear. [Sharp] Crashing ringing with startling keenness [sound] [The sheep were frightened & ran away.] The distant [Alpine] peaks loomed gloriously [look sublime among] through the cloud fringes & sheets of rain [massy pouring clouds, some clear & sunlit others hidden [veiled] or dimly visible [through the rain & how sweet the fragrance [of the woods now the storm is past & how fresh & calm the mashed leaves & rocks [foliage is] [Yosemite in] Winter snow storms in Yosemite must be glorious, may I see them some time? God grant it. Have got my bed made in our new camp [rich and] plushy sumptuous & deliciously fragrant [made of] fir plumes of course with a variety of sweet flowers in the pillow [about the head for the sake of perfume mostly][their fragrance] Hope to sleep tonight without [so much] nervous dreaming about the falls & avalanching rocks. [waking falling] [Saw] Watched a deer today off eating ceanothus leaves & twigs [They love to hide in chaparral] 69 July 18th Slept pretty well the Valley walls did not seem to fall [stationery mostly] though still fancied myself at the brink alongside the [down plunging flood] [troubled with visions of the head of the fall] especially when half asleep [about to fall asleep] strange, the danger of that adventure should she be more troublesome now that I am a mile or more [away] from the falls [& cliffs] [back] in the bosom of the peaceful woods. Then it was while I was on the brink of the precipice beside the booming waters [Have been building another corral. Felled some of the fine trees. Ignoble use yet Nature is lavish in bounty & will not begrudge. Mean to gather the sheep into this enclosure every night partly on account of bears who are fond of mutton though living on berries & grain mostly.] Bears seem to be common here judging by their tracks. Cloudiness at noon .50 average .05 during the day. We had another [hearty] magnificent mountain storm. At first the thunder crashed with sharp metallic notes ringing clashing clamoring [at first] then gradually faded into the low bass rolling & [muttering] in the distance. [as commonly heard on the lowlands & rain] for a few minute the rain came in a grand torrent [fell in] like a waterfall then hail, some of the hailstones were [stones] an inch in diameter, hard, icy & irregular in form like those I have often seen in Wisconsin. [My dog] Carlo watched them coming pelting & thrashing through the branches of the treeshttps://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/jmn-sj2/1036/thumbnail.jp