Tracing the ways of glaciers, learning how Nature sculptures
mountain-waves in making scenery-beauty that so mysteriously influences
every human being, is glorious work.
The most striking and attractive of the glacial phenomena in the upper
Yosemite region are the polished glacier pavements, because they are so
beautiful, and their beauty is of so rare a kind, so unlike any portion
of the loose, deeply weathered lowlands where people make homes and earn
their bread. They are simply flat or gently undulating areas of hard
resisting granite, which present the unchanged surface upon which with
enormous pressure the ancient glaciers flowed. They are found in most
perfect condition in the subalpine region, at an elevation of from eight
thousand to nine thousand feet. Some are miles in extent, only slightly
interrupted by spots that have given way to the weather, while the best
preserved portions reflect the sunbeams like calm water or glass, and
shine as if polished afresh every day, notwithstanding they have been
exposed to corroding rains, dew, frost, and snow measureless thousands
of years.
The attention of wandering hunters and prospectors, who see so many
mountain wonders, is seldom commanded by other glacial phenomena,
moraines however regular and artificial-looking, canyons however deep
or strangely modeled, rocks however high; but when they come to these
shining pavements they stop and stare in wondering admiration, kneel
again and again to examine the brightest spots, and try hard to account
for their mysterious shining smoothness.
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