THE FORESTS AXD DESERTS OF ARIZONA 



209 



The next morning we are naturally eager to start out early to 

 climb that magnificent mountain which rise.s north of the little 

 hamlet in solitary grandeur, a huge volcano whose fires have 

 but recently been extinguished, now unique in its symmetrical 

 and striking outlines, the most inijiressive feature in the land- 

 scape. The elevation of Flagstaff being about 7,000 feet, a steady 

 ascent is made from the town for ten or twelve miles to the foot 

 of the cone at 8,000 feet, and then comes a steeper climb. The 

 road is through a lovely forest of bull pine {Pinus ponderosa), a 



PETRIFIED LOGS, ARIZONA 



species common from British Columbia soutiiward, botii along 

 the Sierra Madre and the Rocky mountains, down to Mexico. 

 The forest is open and parklike, the trees standing in groups, 

 with here and there an old stager which was a good-sized sap- 

 ling when the first white conquistadors passed through this 

 wilderness 360 years ago. The open stand of the stately pines 

 rearing their heads 100 and more feet into the remarkably blue 

 sky naturally causes the formation of a long and rather sym- 

 metrical crown which adds to the scenic beauty, but not to the 

 commercial value of the timber. Since the rainy season has 

 not yet set in, there is but little grass and lower vegetation visible ; 

 hardly any undergrowth impedes the view ; yet here and there a 

 u 



