FORESTS OF MOUXT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK. 3 



The extreme limit of tree growth on Mount Rainier is 7,600 feet 

 above sea level. There is no well-defined timber line. Scattered 

 clumps of low stunted trees occur up to 7,000 feet. A few very small 

 and flattened mountain hemlocks grow above this elevation. A very 

 large part of the area above 4.500 feet consists of glaciers, talus 

 slopes, barren rocky peaks, and open parks. Basins at the heads of 

 canyons in the high mountains are usually treeless, on account of 

 the great depth of snow which accumulates in them during the 

 winter. On the steep, smooth upper inclines the snow banks fre- 

 quently slip and form slides which acquire momentum as they rush 

 down the mountain side and break and carry away large trees. Re- 

 peated snowslides in the same place keep the slopes nonforested, and 

 their track is marked by light green strips of brush and herbage. 



The transition of the forest from its lowland to its extreme alpine 

 type is one of the most interesting features of a visit to the mountain. 

 Entering the park at the western boundary close to the Nisqually 

 River the road skirts the base of the lightly timbered spurs and 

 passes into a forest of large and old Douglas fir and western hemlock. 

 Red cedars grow along the streams that cross the road. Little yew 

 trees and vine maples mingle with the young conifers that form the 

 undergrowth ; the gloom of the forest is occasionally relieved by the 

 white bark of alders and the smooth gray stems of the cottonwoods 

 that grow on the sandy bank of the Xisqually. After the road 

 crosses the Rainier Fork, noble fir and amabilis fir appear, but the 

 Douglas fir and western hemlock are still the prevailing species. 



Above Longmire Springs the noble and amabilis fir, mixed with 

 western hemlock, become the dominant type. The trees are shorter 

 and the branches heavier. Mountain ash and yellow cypress grow 

 on the margin of the mountain streams. Huckleberry bushes take 

 the place of the taller undergrowth of the valley. 



Above Xarada Falls the forest is more open, and the trees are still 

 smaller. Mountain hemlock and alpine fir succeed the trees of the 

 lower slope. Little glades and mountain meadows are seen. They 

 become larger and more numerous and the traveler soon enters the 

 open park of Paradise Valley, in which are but scattered groves of 

 trees. The same successive altitudinal types are met in ascending to 

 Moraine and Grand Parks by way of the Carbon Valley, and in fol- 

 lowing the Mowich watershed. Crater Lake, and Spray Park routes. 



Approaching the park from the east the routes pass through open 

 western yellow pine forests and western larch stands. Since Mount 

 Rainier is west of and apart from the summit line, these species 

 which are peculiar to the eastern slope are not found within the 

 limits of the park. 



