To a nature-lover, the invitation of the Alpine Club of Canada to the Mazamas to send a representative to the Annual Meet in the summer of 1907 was very alluring with its brief hints of the scenery one might expect in and around Paradise Valley. And especially attractive was its suggestion of a two-days' expedition among glaciers and over passes in the vicinity.
I had years before looked with longing eyes from the train as we caught fleeting glimpses of distant snow-peaks and deep glacier-cut valleys, and when the call came to me in Oregon to penetrate the mysteries of the Rockies I eagerly accepted.
Oregon and Washington have attractive snow scenery, but it is largely centred about individual volcanic peaks rising like sentinels above the densely wooded region around them. I had made the ascent of our more prominent peaks, and was anxious to make comparisons. Entering Paradise Valley a stranger, I left it with so many pleasant memories that, as I now mentally retrace my steps and glance again at the photographs before me, as I have so many times, I experience a keen pleasure that only Alpine enthusiasts can possibly appreciate.
Paradise Valley is well named, for it lies in the center of a wonderful scenic region and makes an ideal place for a club camp. From the summit of Mount Temple above the valley, I gazed over a bewildering sea of snow peaks and looked with envious eyes in the direction of Lake O'Hara, eager to make the circuit of the lakes. That evening I entered my name for the O'Hara Expedition, and the following morning, rising
