SUMMER DAYS AT MOUNT SHASTA 



road on Mount Washington. In the mean time 

 tourists are dropped at Sisson's, about twelve 

 miles from the summit, whence as head- 

 quarters they radiate in every direction to the 

 so-called "points of interest"; sauntering 

 about the flowery fringes of the Strawberry 

 Meadows, bathing in the balm of the woods, 

 scrambling, fishing, hunting; riding about 

 Castle Lake, the McCloud River, Soda Springs, 

 Big Spring, deer pastures, and elsewhere. Some 

 demand bears, and make excited inquiries con- 

 cerning their haunts, how many there might 

 be altogether on the mountain, and whether 

 they are grizzly, brown, or black. Others 

 shout, "Excelsior," and make off at once for 

 the upper snow-fields. Most, however, are con- 

 tent with comparatively level ground and mod- 

 erate distances, gathering at the hotel every 

 evening laden with trophies — great sheaves 

 of flowers, cones of various trees, cedar and 

 fir branches covered with yellow lichens, and 

 possibly a fish or two, or quail, or grouse. 



But the heads of deer, antelope, wild sheep, 

 and bears are conspicuously rare or altogether 

 wanting in tourist collections in the "paradise 

 of hunters." There is a grand comparing of 

 notes and adventures. Most are exhilarated 

 and happy, though complaints may occasion- 

 ally be heard — "The mountain does not look 



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