Camping with
President Roosevelt
By John Burroughs (1906)
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TRAVELING ON SKIS
At the Caņon Hotel the snow was very deep, and had become so soft from the
warmth of the earth beneath, as well as from the sun above, that we could only
reach the brink of the Caņon on skis.
The President and Major Pitcher had used skis before, but I had not, and,
starting out without the customary pole, I soon came to grief. The snow gave way
beneath me, and I was soon in an awkward predicament. The more I struggled, the
lower my head and shoulders went, till only my heels, strapped to those long
timbers, protruded above the snow.
To reverse my position was impossible till some one came, and reached me the end
of a pole, and pulled me upright. But I very soon got the hang of the things,
and the President and I quickly left the superintendent behind. I think I could
have passed the President, but my manners forbade. He was heavier than I was,
and broke in more.
When one of his feet would go down half a yard or more, I noted with admiration
the skilled diplomacy he displayed in extricating it. The tendency of my skis
was all the time to diverge, and each to go off at an acute angle to my main
course, and I had constantly to be on the alert to check this tendency.
Paths had been shoveled for us along the brink of the Caņon, so that we got the
usual views from the different points. The Caņon was nearly free from snow, and
was a grand spectacle, by far the grandest to be seen in the Park. The President
told us that once, when pressed for meat, while returning through here from one
of his hunting trips, he had made his way down to the river that we saw rushing
along beneath us, and had caught some trout for dinner. Necessity alone could
induce him to fish.
Across the head of the Falls there was a bridge of snow and ice, upon which we
were told that the coyotes passed. As the season progressed, there would come a
day when the bridge would not be safe. It would be interesting to know if the
coyotes knew when this time arrived.
The only live thing we saw in the Caņon was an osprey perched upon a rock
opposite us.
Near the falls of the Yellowstone, as at other places we had visited, a squad of
soldiers had their winter quarters. The President always called on them, looked
over the books they had to read, examined their housekeeping arrangements, and
conversed freely with them.
In front of the hotel were some low hills separated by gentle valleys. At the
President's suggestion, he and I raced on our skis down those inclines. We had
only to stand up straight, and let gravity do the rest. As we were going swiftly
down the side of one of the hills, I saw out of the corner of my eye the
President taking a header into the snow. The snow had given way beneath him, and
nothing could save him from taking the plunge. I don't know whether I called
out, or only thought, something about the downfall of the administration.
At any rate, the administration was down, and pretty well buried, but it was
quickly on its feet again, shaking off the[Pg 46] snow with a boy's laughter. I
kept straight on, and very soon the laugh was on me, for the treacherous snow
sank beneath me, and I took a header, too.
"Who is laughing now, Oom John?" called out the President.
The spirit of the boy was in the air that day about the Caņon of the
Yellowstone, and the biggest boy of us all was President Roosevelt.
HOMEWARD BOUND
The snow was getting so soft in the middle of the day that our return to the
Mammoth Hot Springs could no longer be delayed. Accordingly, we were up in the
morning, and ready to start on the home journey, a distance of twenty miles, by
four o'clock.
The snow bore up the horses well till mid-forenoon, when it began to give way
beneath them. But by very careful management we pulled through without serious
delay, and were back again at the house of Major Pitcher in time for luncheon,
being the only outsiders who had ever made the tour of the Park so early in the
season.
A few days later I bade good-by to the President, who went on his way to
California, while I made a loop of travel to Spokane, and around through Idaho
and Montana, and had glimpses of the great, optimistic, sunshiny West that I
shall not soon forget.
