Turning now to the northward, there in the immediate foreground is the
glorious Sierra Crown, with Cathedral Peak, a temple of marvelous
architecture, a few degrees to the left of it; the gray, massive form of
Mammoth Mountain to the right; while Mounts Ord, Gibbs, Dana, Conness,
Tower Peak, Castle Peak, Silver Mountain, and a host of noble
companions, as yet nameless, make a sublime show along the axis of the
range.
Eastward, the whole region seems a land of desolation covered with
beautiful light. The torrid volcanic basin of Mono, with its one bare
lake fourteen miles long; Owen's Valley and the broad lava table-land at
its head, dotted with craters, and the massive Inyo Range, rivaling even
the Sierra in height; these are spread, map-like, beneath you, with
countless ranges beyond, passing and overlapping one another and fading
on the glowing horizon.
[Illustration: MAP OF THE YOSEMITE VALLEY.]
At a distance of less than 3000 feet below the summit of Mount Ritter
you may find tributaries of the San Joaquin and Owen's rivers, bursting
forth from the ice and snow of the glaciers that load its flanks; while
a little to the north of here are found the highest affluents of the
Tuolumne and Merced.
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