52 the plant world. 



The San Francisco AIountain. 



Before going to the canyon we visited the San Francisco Moun- 

 tain. Flagstaff was our base of supphes. In Flagstaff every- 

 thing that is needful for the mountain trip, from bacon to burros, 

 can be purchased, and. if desired, the trip can be made from this 

 town, but for various reasons we started our burros from Bel- 

 mont — a way-station nine miles west of " Flag." 



\'iewed from Belmont, the highest summit of the San Fran- 

 ciscos lies about fifteen miles to the north and about 7.000 feet 

 above, and the way to it is straight and a plain one, since there 

 is no interposing range. 



We left Belmont one Wednesday afternoon late in Julv and 

 directed the course of our three burros straight for San Francisco 

 Peak. At first the way lay through a forest of fine pines ( Piniis 

 pondcrosa ) and we did not emerge from the pine forest, in fact, 

 until we reached the very base of the mountain and began the 

 ascent. Wednesday night was passed in an abandoned barn, 

 which served better than a tent to keep oft' the rain, and early the 

 next day we were en route again. By noon we had reached the 

 large meadow which lies so conspicuously on the lower southwest 

 corner of the mountain and which was seen from Belmont. This 

 meadow was skirted by Douglas spruces and aspens. W'q con- 

 tinued the ascent and were driven to make camp the latter part 

 of the day at about 9,000 feet among firs because of the approach 

 of rains. The rains continued more or less intermittentl}" until 

 Sunday morning, when, lured by promise of a fair day, we 

 shouldered our riick-sacks and started for the summit. We 

 climbed upward through the forest of spruce and pine (Picca 

 eiigehnaiuii and Piiiiis aristata), the trees of which continually 

 became smaller, until at last we emerged above the timber line 

 and went up on the peculiar debris characteristic of the old vol- 

 cano. At length the edge of the crater was reached and we 

 stood on a narrow crest with the inside of the crater a few hun- 

 dred feet below and to the north, and the plateau through which 

 we had come to the south stretching as far as we could see. The 

 general shape of the mountain was then easily made out. As is 



