UNFAMILIAR SCENES IN NATIONAL PARKS 



351 



for it was a volcano, like Mt. Rainier, or else it was 

 engulfed in its own volcanic caverns. Today on the 

 summit of the mountain, known as Mt. Mazama, there 

 is an immense crater, six miles in diameter, within which 

 is found one of the most remarkable lakes on the face of 

 the earth. This lake has a maximum depth of 2,000 

 feet, and the enclosing cliffs which are absolutely verti- 

 cal in many places rise to a maxium height above the 

 lake of 2, 000 feet. The color of the lake is an intense 

 ultramarine blue, shading into green along the shore, 

 while the cliffs, being of volcanic rock, exhibit a color- 

 scheme hardly less varied and brilliant than that of the 

 Yellowstone Canyon. This is the dominant feature of 

 Crater Lake National Park, and it is well worth cross- 

 ing the continent to see. 



An automobile road, thirty-five miles in length, en- 

 circles the lake, following the rim wherever possible, and 

 affording many superb views of the lake and the sur- 

 rounding country. The crater walls are so steep that 

 it is possible to reach the shore of the lake only at two 

 or three points, but a good trail has been built leading 

 down from the south rim, and one can enjoy boating 

 and fishing on the lake very readily. 



The park also contains several other volcanic cones 

 and a number of creek canyons which are exceptionally 

 interesting. Of the latter, Anna Creek Canyon is nota- 



Photograph by Herbert W. Gleason 



YO SEMITE VALLEY 



Just as beautiful with its covering of white in winter as in its 



summer green is the famous Yosemite Valley 



Photograph by Herbert W. Gleason 



THE WHITE CASCADES 

 This torrent of water pours down the grand canyon of the 

 Tuolumne, in Yosemite Park, and is one of the beauty spots 

 in that famous region. 



ble for the groups of lofty sand pinnacles which it con- 

 tains, curious and fantastic forms created by centuries 

 of erosion. As a whole, Crater Lake Park is rapidly 

 coming to be recognized as one of the most priceless 

 assets of the nation in the realm of natural wonder and 

 beauty. 



California has four national parks, Yosemite, Lassen 

 Volcanic, Sequoia, and General Grant. The two last 

 were established for the purpose of preserving a number 

 of groves of the famous Big Trees, Sequoia gigantea. 

 Lassen Volcanic Park contains Mt. Lassen (10,465 ft.), 

 the only active volcano in the United States proper, be- 

 sides various subsidiary volcanic phenomena. Yosemite 

 Park is much the largest, having an area of 1,125 square 

 miles, and including some of the grandest and most 

 beautiful scenery on the continent. 



Yosemite Valley, world-famous for many years, is un- 

 questionably the chief outstanding feature of Yosemite 

 Park; but there are within the park a number of other 

 localities which, as they become better known, will make 

 Yosemite a rival in popular favor with any other national 

 park on the list. Tuolumne Meadows the most won- 

 derful camping-ground in the way of climate and scenic 

 attractions in America; the Sierra Crown a group of 

 lofty snow-clad peaks centering about Mt. Lyell (13,090 



