80 OUR NATIONAL PARKS 



The three main natural divisions of the park, 

 the lower, middle, and alpine regions, are fairly 

 well defined in altitude, topographical features, 

 and vegetation. The lower, with an average 

 elevation of about five thousand feet, is the 

 region of the great forests, made up of sugar 

 pine, the largest and most beautiful of all the 

 pines in the world ; the silvery yellow pine, the 

 next in rank; Douglas spruce, libocedrus, the 

 white and red silver firs, and the Sequoia gi- 

 gantea, or " big tree," the king of conifers, the 

 noblest of a noble race. On warm slopes next 

 the foothills there are a few Sabine nut pines ; 

 oaks make beautiful groves in the canon valleys ; 

 and poplar, alder, maple, laurel, and Nuttall's 

 flowering dogwood shade the banks of the 

 streams. Many of the pines are more than two 

 hundred feet high, but they are not crowded to- 

 gether. The sunbeams streaming through their 

 feathery arches brighten the ground, and you 

 walk beneath the radiant ceiling in devout sub- 

 dued mood, as if you were in a grand cathedral 

 with mellow light sifting through colored win- 

 dows, while the flowery pillared aisles open en- 

 chanting vistas in every direction. Scarcely a 

 peak or ridge in the whole region rises bare 

 above the forests, though they are thinly planted 

 in some places where the soil is shallow. From 

 the cool breezy heights you look abroad over a 

 boundless waving sea of evergreens, covering 



