Animal Trails

Varied as was the list of animals actually seen it was nothing compared with the variety of tracks seen. Bear, deer and coyote tracks were noted in the first mile off trail and with the addition of fox and bob-cat were very numerous along the trip. The trails of only three cougar were seen, one on Cowlitz divide, one near Longmire and the other along the west side trail. No sign of wolf were seen altho last year on a similar trip I noted two unmistakable trails, one near the crossing of Stevens creek and the other back of Mount Ararat. Bear do not seem to be particularly numerous in any one locality but are rather uniformly distributed over the entire Park below timberline. They are likely most numerous in the Nisqually watershed on the south side. Deer were very abundant along the Cowlitz Divide, in Sunset Park and around Indian Henry's Hunting Ground and were numerous almost everywhere in the wood. There are only a few elk in the Park. Goat signs indicated that they were particularly plentiful in the region of Van Trump Park, the Cowlitz Chimneys, Sluiskin Mountains, Spray Park, Indian Henry's and Satulick. Everywhere where deer are found there are numerous predatory animals, coyote and bob-cat being most numerous. Fox trails were plentiful in all the high Alpine meadows.

Near Squaw lakes a bear had slid on the snow down a steep slope, waded thru the shallow lake rather than go around and climbed a patch of mountain ash on the side of Iron Mountain for the pipe berries. Just below Round Pass a bear den was found in a large hollow cedar trees.

Game Census

From notes made during the season on signs of animals seen and of animals actually noted it is estimated that the Park contains the following big game populations:

These animals range over about 200 square miles of forest and Alpine meadow land and are supplemented by 42 species of smaller mammals which are far more abundant and quite as interesting as their larger cousins.