THE MOUNTAIN TRAIL 



wards of the man who has learned 

 the secret of the saunterer! 



5. There is one last parable 

 which the mountain trail brings 

 to me its endlessness. It climbs 

 to the crest of the ridge and is lost 

 to sight, but it goes down the other 

 side. It loses itself in the green 

 depths of the canyons below, but 

 far away on the other wall, if your 

 eyes are clear and strong, you can 

 make it out zig-zagging up out of 

 the canyon again. You camp for 

 the night weary beside the trail, 

 but the trail runs on as a prophecy 

 that you too shall follow in the 

 morning. Only once have I fol- 

 lowed a mountain trail to its end, 

 and that was when we climbed 

 Mt. Whitney. There, fourteen 

 thousand five hundred feet above 

 sea level, at the very highest point 

 in the United States, the trail 

 seemed to end at a rude pile of 

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