SUMMER DAYS AT MOUNT SHASTA 



ascent of Shasta is only a long, safe saunter, 

 without fright or nerve-strain, or even serious 

 fatigue, to those in sound health. Setting out 

 from Sisson's on horseback, accompanied by a 

 guide leading a pacii-animal with provisions, 

 blankets, and other necessaries, you follow a 

 trail that leads up to the edge of the timber- 

 Une, where you camp for the night, eight or 

 ten miles from the hotel, at an elevation of 

 about ten thousand feet. The next day, rising 

 early, you may push on to the summit and 

 return to Sisson's. But it is better to spend 

 more time in the enjoyment of the grand scen- 

 ery on the summit and about the head of the 

 Whitney Glacier, pass the second night in 

 camp, and return to Sisson's on the third day. 

 Passing around the margin of the meadows and 

 on through the zones of the forest, you will 

 have good opportunities to get ever-changing 

 views of the mountain and its wealth of crea- 

 tures that bloom and breathe. 



The woods differ but little from those that 

 clothe the moimtains to the southward, the 

 trees being slightly closer together and gener- 

 ally not quite so large, marking the incipient 

 change from the open sunny forests of the 

 Sierra to the dense damp forests of the north- 

 em coast, where a squirrel may travel in the 

 branches of the thick-set trees hundreds of 



51 



