43 a 



RKCRHATION 



"free-for-all" building, although we found 

 the people very nice, and the rooms com- 

 paratively clean, the latter fact inducing us 

 to do our cooking over the stove in the 

 kitchen, eating, however, our meals on our 

 camp table in the shade outside. 



It was cherry time, and berries were ripe, 

 so while the teams were getting their much- 

 needed rest we women folks put up several 

 quarts of fruit to carry with us, for we had 

 planned to stay out in the wilds until the 

 cold drove us to shelter. There were many 

 attractions here besides the wonderful cli- 

 mate. Near the camp was a cool stream 

 running merrily over the rocks, beneath 

 overhanging trees, that gave us shelter from 

 the hot sun, where we spent many a peaceful 

 hour reading or working. Here we first saw 

 the crested California quail, that seemed 

 to know that they were protected by law 

 from man's slaying hand, for they strutted 

 about as fearlessly as if no .possible harm 

 could come to them. Here we found the 

 yellow "paper flower," which looked some- 

 what like a daisy, but when gathered it 

 never wilted, making it a very appropriate 



flower for camp decoration. Here we looked 

 up to the Grand Mesa with its many acres 

 of forest inaccessible to man excepting by 

 trail, which, of course, gave them a greater 

 charm, and us a stronger desire to scale the 

 almost perpendicular sides — a desire that 

 was not to be satisfied, for we were not brave 

 enough to trust ourselves to the tender 

 mercy of a pack mule up such a steep and 

 rocky trail. Here were the wonderful Pali- 

 sades made by the Master Builder long 

 before man had his being. The ranchers 

 here were just cutting and stacking their 

 alfalfa, which to our Eastern eyes was a 

 queer kind of hay, so bright and green when 

 dry enough to store away. Two of the 

 young men of our party worked several days 

 in one of the haynelds (which was a new 

 experience to them) while the horses rested, 

 to have more spending money for the rest 

 of the trip. v 



Our photographer made a souvenir pic- 

 ture of them as they were stacking, which, 

 with that of the camp, bring back to us 

 happy memories of our stop by the way- 

 side in Mesa County, Colorado. 



tourists' camp at a free camp house 



