THE SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK 



13 



A.N LLX.NAMIiD l^AKK 



These sparkling gems are legion in number in the sonthern Sierras. Some are hidden in forest glades, others glisten like jewels in their platinum 

 settings of perpetual snow: all are a delight to the traveler. This one, so well worthy of a name but as vet unchristened, is near j^gnew 

 Meadows, Sequoia National Park. 



mountain tops, I can speak with the feehng of one who 

 has been bitten by the bacilhis, for I have roamed through 

 ranges and deserts afoot, astride the trusty jackass, aboard 

 the grumbling mule and clinging to the saddle horn of 

 a bucking cayuse, and that longing for the desert's ex- 

 panse and the crisp air of lofty peaks is always with me. 

 Nor is my case unique, for every year sees some gray- 

 haired retired miner whose suddenly acquired wealth 

 necessitates his stealing stealthily from the route of fash- 

 ionable places to shade his eyes for one more lingering 

 look at the shimmering desert that yielded him her treas- 

 ures. Each spring finds an ever-increasing throng 

 turning toward the mountains for another sight of ver- 

 dant forests and snow-clad peaks. 



For those whose predilections are for mountain crags, 

 forest glades and echoing canyons, there is perhaps no 

 place more replete with such features than Sequoia Park 

 and the surrounding territory. Situated at the southern 

 end of the Sierra Nevada in California, the area cov- 

 ered by the National Park and contiguous national for- 

 ests includes Mt. Whitney, the highest peak in the United 

 States, four great canyons, one of which is one-half mile 

 deeper than the canyon of the Colorado in Arizona, and 



many forests of Sequoia Gigantea in one of which is the 

 greatest and oldest tree on earth. 



Roughly speaking, this area is fifty miles wide and 

 si.xty miles long as the crow flies. Traversing the north- 

 erly half and flowing in a westerly direction are the mid- 

 dle and the south forks of the King's River. The former 

 stream is in one place seven thousand feet below the 

 upper rim of its canyon, and while the walls are not 

 vertical as in the Colorado, it flows through the deepest 

 canyon in the world and is a most impressive sight. 

 Separating the drainage area of the King's from the 

 Kern is the King's-Kern Divide, a jagged range that lies 

 to the south and generally parallels the south fork of the 

 King's River. From the park line east this wonderful 

 spur, together with the Sphinx Crest, forms an all but 

 impassable barrier between the King's and Kern, and to 

 the traveler its many spires beckon the enthusiast to 

 essay its ascent for a peep at the world beyond. But the 

 bleaching bones of a sturdy burro will testify to the 

 futility of such an attempt, at least at the place where I 

 endeavored to pass through. There arc, of course, two 

 or three passes which can be traversed on foot and which 

 cuuld he made safe for animals by a little judicious trail 

 building. 



