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falling and others where the sun was shining brightly. In fact, 
being up so high, we were able to follow the course of a rain- 
storm far in the distance, noting how it advanced, and how on 
either side the sun was shining. 
Mt. Monroe is 670 feet higher than Mt. Franklin—its alti- 
tude being 5590 feet—and coming down from its summit we 
were surprised and delighted to see ahead of us, in the hollow 
between Monroe and Washington, at an altitude of over 5000 
feet, about a dozen small lakes. These are appropriately known 
as the Lakes of the Clouds. Along the margin of one of these 
lakes we discovered another very rare species—perhaps the rar- 
est of the entire trip—a plant found only on the summits of the 
Presidential Range and on Mt. Kineo, Me. This was the yellow 
mountain avens (Sieversia Peckii), and in full bloom !—truly a 
sight to make the heart of a tired and very footsore botanist re- 
joice! 
Leaving the charming Lakes of the Clouds and the welcome 
Appalachian Mountain Club shelter there, we saw ahead of us 
the towering height of Mt. Washington, whose summit was still 
1290 feet above us. Looking at it from below it appeared to be 
one mass of gigantic boulders piled in hopeless confusion upon 
one another. There was not a tree or shrub or bush in the whole 
expanse of our view, and the path was but faintly discernible 
over and among the boulders! A botanical portfolio filled with 
large botanical driers, when soaked with moisture, has a way of 
becoming unbelievably heavy and burdensome—but our sev- 
eral hundred plant collections had to be carried along in spite of 
the inconvenience. Attempting to travel up this last and steep- 
est ascent, juggling a water-soaked portfolio in one hand and a 
pair of binoculars in the other—over gigantic boulders covered 
in many places with wet Umbilicaria lichens—was a task not 
without its humorous incidents which, however, were not fully 
appreciated at the time! 
During this final ascent of 1290 feet up Washington's slope 
we observed only six species of plants—three of which we had 
passed already on the slopes of preceding peaks, the Umbilicarta 
lichen, the mountain sandwort, and the scrub birch; and three 
which were seen here for the first time. These latter we found 
when about half-way up Mt. Washington where we came upon 
a broad expanse of meadow land lying most surprisingly among 
