SHASTA RAMBLES 



flanks are dotted with hot springs, many of 

 them so sulphurous and boisterous and noisy 

 in their boiling that they seem inclined to 

 become geysers like those of the Yellowstone. 



The ascent of Lassen's Butte is an easy walk, 

 and the views from the summit are extremely 

 telling. Innumerable lakes and craters sur- 

 round the base; forests of the charming Wil- 

 liamson spruce fringe lake and crater alike; the 

 sunbeaten plains to east and west make a 

 striking show, and the wilderness of peaks and 

 ridges stretch indefinitely away on either hand. 

 The lofty, icy Shasta, towering high above all, 

 seems but an hour's walk from you, though the 

 distance in an air-line is about sixty miles. 



The "Big Meadows" lie near the foot of 

 Lassen's Butte, a beautiful spacious basin set 

 in the heart of the richly forested mountains, 

 scarcely surpassed hi the grandeur of its sur- 

 roundings by Tahoe. During the Glacial 

 Period it was a mer de glace, then a lake, and 

 now a level meadow shining with bountiful 

 springs and streams. In the number and size 

 of its big spring fountains it excels even Shasta. 

 One of the largest that I measured forms a 

 lakelet nearly a hundred yards hi diameter, 

 and, hi the generous flood it sends forth offers 

 one of the most telling symbols of Nature's 

 affluence to be found in the mountains. 

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