ROUND TRIP BETWEEN" IOWA AND PUGET SOUND. 241 



side and making further climbing", impossible alone, and proba- 

 bly not safe without alpinstock, rope and Swiss guide. The as- 

 cent leads by the most exquisite mountain brooks, some of them 

 bare of vegetation and others with the most beautiful mossy 

 beds, and all of them carrying the icy glacial water. Coniferous 

 trees and wet meadows abound, and almost any kind of botaniz- 

 ing may be had in abundance at the right season. The lichens 

 seen on the two days preceding were passed over, and only those 

 not before noted were collected. Of these Gryopliora hyperbo- 

 rea was most noteworthy, appearing on the rocks in great profu- 

 sion. OyropJiora aiir/ulafa, another rare lichen in ISTorth Amer- 

 ica, was also in evidence but rarely seen. In the mossy brooks 

 at high elevations was collected an Endocarpon of peculiar as- 

 pect, which seems to be Endocarpon )niniatum fidvofuscum, a 

 form of the species very rarely seen. Besides these Cladonia 

 deformis was seen more commonly than in any other area known 

 to the writer, and with its scarlet fruits and bright-greenish 

 podetia, produced a very beautiful effect upon the mossy and 

 rocky ground. 



One cannot visit this region Avithout being impressed with 

 the conifers. The principal ones are the subalpine fir, Ahies 

 lasiocarpa, a tree of symmetrical beauty and perhaps the most 

 characteristic one of all the alpine trees of the Northwest ; the 

 Engelmann spruce, Picea enr/elmanni, well known in the moun- 

 tains from British America southward to Arizona ; the black 

 hemlock, Tsuga mertensiana, also well known in the western 

 mountains ; the western hemlock, Tsuga heterophylla, having 

 essentially the same range ; the giant cedar, Thuja plicata, of the 

 same range as the last two, all occurring from Alaska to Califor- 

 nia, but this one at lower altitudes for the most part ; and finally 

 the red fir, Pseudotsuga mucronata, which occurs from Alaska 

 to Texas, and generally in valleys of the mountains or at low al- 

 titudes. Besides these are other trees and such a multitude of 

 shrubs and herbaceous plants that one who is not familiar with 

 an alpine flora must pass them over unless time is abundant. 

 Even the heathers that appear at various seasons in the high alti- 



