ox THE ^lOUNTAIN TOP. 

 Bv Geo. E. Osterhout. 



Almost every one enjoys mountain elimbing' and standing on 

 a mountain top, if only for the satisfaction of putting it under 

 one's feet. It is an undertaking accomplished and an aspiration 

 satisfied. I have always enjoyed reaching the summits of our 

 Rocky Mountains, even if these were not the summits of the 

 highest peaks. The debris l}"ing at the foot of the chasms and 

 the partly thawed lakes look as if some of the old world were 

 yet in the making. The boundless range of vision, and the being 

 amid the alpine summits is a rare experience. 



I wish to write here of two little trips — a day each — when on 

 horse-back and alone I rode from Moraine Park to the top of 

 the range to collect botanical specimens. The first trip was on 

 a dav in July and the second on a day in August of another year. 

 The high mountains, like the plains, have a succession of flower- 

 ing plants, though the season is short, and I made the change of 

 time to get a greater variety of specimens. Leaving the valley 

 I rode leisurelv u]) an old trail made years ago by miners pros- 

 pecting for gold on the north fork of the Grand river, and 

 ascended a hill-side to the crest of a ridge. Far below, the 

 waters of the Thompson river coming from the canyon above, 

 wound their \va\- through the valley and meadows and glinted 

 and sparkled in the sunlight ; and across the valley and beyond 

 the hills to the southward rose the grand ])roportions of Long's 

 Peak. Before me was a vallev into which the trail descended 



