SHASTA RAMBLES 



ing this wild changing channel-gorge, gully, 

 or canon, the sections will show Mount Shasta 

 as a huge palimpsest, containing the records, 

 layer upon layer, of strangely contrasted events 

 in its fiery-icy history. But look well to your 

 footing, for the way will test the skill of the 

 most cautious mountaineers. 



Regaining the low ground at the base of the 

 mountain and holding on in your grand or 

 bit, you pass through a belt of juniper woods, 

 called &quot;The Cedars,&quot; to Sheep Rock at the 

 foot of the Shasta Pass. Here you strike the 

 old emigrant road, which leads over the low 

 divide to the eastern slopes of the mountain. 

 In a north-northwesterly direction from the 

 foot of the pass you may chance to find Pluto s 

 Cave, already mentioned; but it is not easily 

 found, since its several mouths are on a level 

 with the general surface of the ground, and 

 have been made simply by the falling-in of 

 portions of the roof. Far the most beautiful 

 and richly furnished of the mountain caves of 

 California occur in a thick belt of metamorphic 

 limestone that is pretty generally developed 

 along the western flank of the Sierra from the 

 McCloud River to the Kaweah, a distance of 

 nearly four hundred miles. These volcanic 

 caves are not wanting in interest, and it is well 

 to light a pitch-pine torch and take a walk in 



89 



