THE MOUNTAIN TRAIL 



built the trail and of the troopers 

 who guarded it. Into a sense of 

 grateful fellowship with all these 

 men one enters as he lives day by 

 day in companionship with the 

 mountain trail this long slender 

 thread which, stretching back over 

 the hills, seems to be the only 

 thing connecting him with civili- 

 zation and, leading on into the 

 unknown, promises new joy and 

 beauty for the days to come. 



And with this gratitude goes a 

 duty the duty not in any way 

 to injure the trail, but, as far as 

 possible, so to place a stone here 

 or remove one there as to improve 

 the trail and make it plainer and 

 easier. In high altitudes the trail 

 goes over the bare granite, where 

 there is no way of marking its 

 location except by low piles of 

 stones, called "ducks," placed at 

 frequent intervals. It is an un- 

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