298 Recreations of a Sportsman 



caiions are entered and the mountains close in 

 behind one. No such wonder is known in the 

 world as the Mariposa Big Tree Grove, reached 

 by the Wawona route, and to spend a week or 

 more amid these solitudes, camping out, or sleep- 

 ing on the ground, beside and beneath them, is to 

 some men one of the great privileges to be had in 

 California. 



The Big Tree Grove is eight miles from 

 Wawona. The forest, which covers an area 

 about two miles square, stands on a gentle slope 

 of the mountain forming what is known as the 

 upper and the lower grove. It is not the larg- 

 est, but it is the easiest to reach, and contains 

 trees that make the impression of a lifetime 

 upon the average person. 



For ages the Yosemite and its adjacent big 

 trees has been a secret, hidden away in the breast 

 of this forest and known only to the few natives 

 who happened to cross the range at this point 

 from the desert beyond. We can imagine the 

 surprise and terror of the man from the East 

 who first came upon this vast gash in the earth 

 and stood and looked down into it. 



There are two hundred and fifty trees in the 

 lower grove and three hundred and twenty-five in 

 the upper splendid spires, stepping-stones that 

 connect to-day with the time when the Christian 

 era began and possibly long before. 



The effect of the big trees upon different peo- 



