THE SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK 



411 



Big Trees from the valley, thousands of feet below them. 

 At Three Rivers one may sit on the porch of a ranch 

 house at an elevation of some 900 feet, surrounded by 

 citrus trees and the flowers of the lowlands, and gaze at 

 the skyline of the Giant Forest plateau, 6000 feet above 

 and 9 or 10 miles air line distant. On that skyline, 

 thrusting their heads above the lesser trees, the sugar 

 pines, the yellow pines and the silver firs may be seen 

 the Mammoth Trees. With a field glass it is even possible 

 from Three Riveis to distinguish individual sequoias on 

 the rim of the plateau between Moro Rock and Hanging 

 Rock. 



A new road is now being constructed by the National 

 Park Service up the warm south slopes which lead to the 

 Giant Forest plateau from the Middle Fork of the Ka- 

 weah River. When, in about a year's time, this road is 

 completed it will be possible to motor from the valley 

 to the Big Trees at any season of the year. Meanwhile 

 they are accessible by automobile from May to October 



by the Giant Forest Road, a mountain road better than 

 the average. And during the winter they may be reached 

 by automobile to Hospital Rock and thence by an 8-mile 

 trail into Giant Forest. 



About 30,00 visitors bave annually entered the Sequoia 

 National Park during the past two or three years. The 

 number increases each year and this practically without 

 advertising. Each visitor has gone away as a living ad- 

 vertisement to the attractions of this region ; to its acces- 

 sibiHty; its delightful camping places among the Big 

 Trees and to its excellent fishing in streams and lakes. 



But it is, after all, the true lover of trees who here 

 finds complete contentment ; who finds in the forests of 

 the Sequoia National Park the supreme examples of 

 nature's architecture and who year after year, in increas- 

 ing numbers comes to the well named Giant Forest to 

 wonder and compare, to enjoy that uplifting thrill which 

 the Mammoth Trees can give, to turn away with reluct- 

 ance and to count the days until he may again return. 



CRATER LAKE NATIONAL PARK 



By Alex Sparrow, Superintendent 



THE principal attraction of this National Park, as its 

 name suggests, is a lake. This may sound disap- 

 pointing, but Crater Lake has never disappointed. Im- 

 agine standing on the edge of a giant bowl six miles in 

 diameter and looking down a thousand feet on a body of 

 water of the deepest Prussian blue and you have gained 

 some conception of Crater Lake. 



And when you have actually stood on the rim of its 

 crater and have gazed down into its fascinating depths 

 then if you are not overwhelmed with the sense of your 

 own puny insignificance your journey will have been in 

 vain. But Crater Lake has never failed to exercise its 

 spell. 



Congressman Sinnott in describing Crater Lake in the 

 House of Representatives in 1918 said: 



"To the scientists, a inic/hty volcano collapsed zvithin itself 

 Mount Mazama, 15,000 feet high, telescoped. 



"To the poet, 'the sea of sapphire,' 'the sea of silence,' 

 'a lake of mystery.' 



"To me, a shell hole of a war of ivorlds t\.'ho knows' 



"Could the great blind poet have .seen this marvel ere his 

 pen had Lucifer and his host of rebel angels 

 Hurled headlong flaming from the cthcral sky, 

 With hideous ruin and combustion down in Mil- 

 tonic imagery here he'd have found the impact." 



Now if you have come this far you are about ready to 

 ask where is Crater Lake? It is in southern Oregon in 

 the very heart of the Cascade Range at about 7,000 feel 

 above the level of the sea. It is reached by auto stage 

 from either Medford or Klajmath Falls, Oregon, stations 

 on the Southern Pacific Railroad. Any ticket agent will 

 tell you how to get here. If you drive the family "Fliv- 

 ver" or a Packard Twin Six the way is just as easy and 



the Oregon tourist and Information Bureau, Portland, 

 Oregon, will send you a road map if you will but write. 



I'hotugrapli copyrighted by Scenic American Company 



BLUEST OF BLUE W.'\TERS, CRATER LAKE, OREGON 



There are crater lakes in other lands, but the one lake of its kind 

 in the United States exceeds all others in beauty and in mag- 

 nificence of setting. 



