SHASTA RAMBLES 



constancy of its volume and temperature 

 throughout the year. The temperature is about 

 45°, and the height of the river above the sea is 

 here about three thousand feet. Asplenium, 

 epilobium, heuchera, hazel, dogwood, and alder 

 make a luxurious fringe and setting; and the 

 forests of Douglas spruce along the banks are 

 the finest I have ever seen in the Sierra. 



From the spring you may go with the river 

 — a fine traveling companion — down to the 

 sportsman's fishing station, where, if you are 

 getting hungry, you may replenish your stores; 

 or, bearing off aroimd the mountain by Huckle- 

 berry Valley, complete yom* circuit without 

 interruption, emerging at length from beneath 

 the outspread arms of the sugar pine at Straw- 

 berry Valley, with all the new wealth and 

 health gathered in your walk; not tired in the 

 least, and only eager to repeat the round. 



Tracing rivers to their fountains makes the 

 most charming of travels. As the life-blood 

 of the landscapes, the best of the wilderness 

 comes to their banks, and not one dull passage 

 is found in all their eventful histories. Tracing 

 the McCloud to its highest springs, and over 

 the divide to the fountains of Fall River, near 

 Fort Crook, thence down that river to its con- 

 fluence with the Pitt, on from there to the vol- 

 canic region about Lassen's Butte, through 



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