94 THE ADVENTURES OF A NATURE GUIDE 



In the Colorado Rockies the Arctic outpost that 

 lies above the timberline embraces about five mil- 

 lion acres. It has more than one thousand peaks. 

 These sky-held, island-like areas, more than two 

 miles above the sea, are less known than islands 

 of the South Sea. They carry lakes, canons, 

 tundras, moorlands, snowfields, and many a lichen- 

 tinted cliff and rock slide. 



This mountain plateau region of the Rockies 

 which lies between the peak summits and the tim- 

 berline is a world by itself. It has its storms 

 and its moving wreaths and strata of clouds, and 

 also its full share of sunshine. It carries rare 

 scenery, and its countless outlying rims and edges, 

 where the plateaus of the sky break off and steeply 

 descend into lakes, canons, and mountain valleys, 

 are scene-commanding viewpoints; these are close 

 to the stars, show the forests and streams, the 

 lights and shadows below and the sunset clouds on 

 the near-by horizons of the sky. 



Brilliant wild flowers enrich the treeless prairies 

 and the grassy, sedgy meadows. Many are dwarfed 

 to tiny smallness but others grow with even greater 

 than lowland vigour. Their colours are varied 

 and brilliant and many are perfumed. 



In these sky lands numerous birds nest and sing; 

 here bears and woodchucks roam; grasshoppers 

 leap and fan their wings, and butterflies float in 

 painted glory. 



It is the home of the Bighorn and the cony; the 



