xxii INTRODUCTION 



This National Forest empire presents a great va- 

 riety of scenery, of forest, and of topography. The 

 beautiful white pine forests of Idaho and Montana, 

 the steep pine- and spruce-clad granite slopes of the 

 Colorado Rockies, and the sun-parched mesas of 

 the Southwest, with their open park-like forests of 

 yellow pine, all have their individual charm. And 

 after crossing the well-watered Cascades and Sierra 

 Nevadas we find forest scenery entirely different. 

 The dense, luxuriant, giant-forests of the coast re- 

 gion of Oregon and Washington, bathed in an al- 

 most continual fog and rain, are without doubt the 

 most wonderful forests in the world. And lastly, 

 California, so far as variety of forest scenery is con- 

 cerned, has absolutely no rival. The open oak 

 groves of the great valleys, the arid pine- and oak- 

 covered foothills, the valuable sugar pine and "big- 

 tree" groves of the moist mountain slopes, and the 

 dwarfed pine and hemlock forests near the serrated 

 crest of the Sierras, all occur within a comparatively 

 short distance of each other, and, in fact, may be 

 seen in less than a day on any one of the many 

 National Forests in these mountains. 



Famous Scenic Wonders Near the Forests. 



