THE YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK 79 



past, the former features of the range were rub- 

 bed off as a chalk sketch from a blackboard, and 

 a new beginning' was made. Hence the wonder- 

 ful clearness and freshness of the rocky pages. 



But to get all this into words is a hopeless 

 task. The leanest sketch of each feature would 

 need a whole chapter. Nor would any amount 

 of space, however industriously scribbled, be of 

 much avail. To defrauded town toilers, parks in 

 magazine articles are like pictures of bread to the 

 hungry. I can write only hints to incite good 

 wanderers to come to the feast. 



While this glorious park embraces big, gener- 

 ous samples of the very best of the Sierra trea- 

 sures, it is, fortunately, at the same time, the 

 most accessible portion. It lies opposite San 

 Francisco, at a distance of about one hundred 

 and forty miles. Railroads connected with all 

 the continent reach into the foothills, and 

 three good carriage roads, from Big Oak Flat, 

 Coulterville, and Raymond, run into Yosemite 

 Valley. Another, called the Tioga road, runs 

 from Crocker's Station on the Yosemite Big Oak 

 Flat road near the Tuolumne Big Tree Grove, 

 right across the park to the summit of the range 

 by way of Lake Tenaya, the Big Tuolumne 

 Meadows, and Mount Dana. These roads, with 

 many trails that radiate from Yosemite Valley, 

 bring most of the park within reach of every- 

 body, well or half well. 



