STEEP TRAILS 



I noticed the tracks of deer in many places 

 among the lily gardens, and at the height of 

 about seven thousand feet I came upon the 

 fresh trail of a flock of wild sheep, showing 

 that these fine mountaineers still flourish here 

 above the range of Mormon rifles. In the plant- 

 ing of her wild gardens, Nature takes the feet 

 and teeth of her flocks into account, and makes 

 use of them to trim and cultivate, and keep 

 them in order, as the bark and buds of the 

 tree are tended by woodpeckers and linnets. 



The evergreen woods consist, as far as I 

 observed, of two species, a spruce and a fir, 

 standing close together, erect and arrowy in a 

 thrifty, compact growth; but they are quite 

 small, say from six to twelve or fourteen inches 

 in diameter, and about forty feet in height. 

 Among their giant relatives of the Sierra the 

 very largest would seem mere saplings. A con- 

 siderable portion of the south side of the moun- 

 tain is planted with a species of aspen, called 

 "quaking asp" by the wood-choppers. It 

 seems to be quite abundant on many of the 

 eastern mountains of the basin, and forms a 

 marked feature of their upper forests. 



Wading up the curves of the summit was 

 rather toilsome, for the snow, which was soft- 

 ened by the blazing sun, was from ten to 

 twenty feet deep, but the view was one of the 



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