a half to two
I have no doubt that if I had taken advice , I could have stowed my load more conveniently , but I could not unpack it , and made the best of it as it was . On the evening of Wednesday , December 2 , I reached the river which I should have to follow up ; it was here nearing the gorge through which it had to pass before the country opened out again at the back of the front range . I came upon it quite suddenly on reaching the brink of a great terrace , the bank of which sloped almost precipitously down towards it , but was covered with grass . The terrace was some three hundred feet above the river , and faced another similar one , which was from a mile and a half to two miles distant . At the bottom of this huge yawning chasm , rolled the mighty river , and I shuddered at the thought of having to cross and recross it . For it was angry , muddy , evidently in heavy fresh , and filled bank and bank for nearly a mile with a flood of seething waters . I followed along the northern edge of the terrace , till I reached the last accommodation house that could be said to be on the plains -- which , by the way , were here some eight or nine hundred feet above sea level .