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Sierra Club Bulletin 



of the Sierra Club can help to promote the recreation use of our splen- 

 did national forests by urging their Congressmen to have added to the 

 next appropriation for the U. S. Department of Agriculture a special 

 fund for this purpose. 



Tahoe-Yosemite Trail 



The following description of the Tahoe-Yosemite Trail Project is taken 

 from a memorandum by District Forester Coert Du Bois : 



The Tahoe-Yosemite Trail is a Forest Service project. . . . The pur- 

 pose of the trail is entirely public. It is proposed to afford an easy and 

 attractive route from the Lake Tahoe region to the boundary of the Yo- 

 semite National Park. Probably before it is completed the National Park 

 authorities can be induced to complete the link between the head of 

 Jack Main Cafion and Tuolumne Meadows, which when done will con- 

 nect the Tahoe-Yosemite Trail with the John Muir Trail and make pos- 

 sible a pack-trip over a well-graded trail from Summit, on the Southern 

 Pacific Railway, to Mount Whitney. 



Instructions and specifications have been worked out in considerable 

 detail and mimeographed, and copies will be placed in the hands of 

 every officer or employee responsible in any way for construction or 

 supervision on the trail. These specifications are in brief as follows : 



1. Grade — Standard, 15 per cent; maximum, 20 per cent. Re- 

 verse grades allowable only when their avoidance would add 10 

 per cent to the cost. 



2. Clearing — Standard, 3 feet ; maximum, 5 feet. All brush piled 

 for burning except through heavy brush-fields on steep sidehills 

 with no openings, where the cost of piling and burning is clearly 

 prohibitive. 



3. Tread — Standard, 15 inches in solid ground; minimum, 12 

 inches ; maximum, 24 inches. 



4. Drainage — Waterbreaks when necessary, 



5. Corduroy — When necessary over boggy places, embedded-log 

 corduroy with sill will be used. 



6. Rock Walls — Rock walls will be used where their construc- 

 tion is cheaper than blasting or digging the tread from the surface 

 in place. 



A distinctive sign-heading will be adopted for the Tahoe-Yosemite Trail. 

 It is suggested that in addition to the name of the forest all signs along 

 the trail carry the name of the trail. Direction signs will be needed 

 wherever lateral or intersecting roads or trails are met; and distance 

 signs throughout should give the distance and direction to the next 

 camping-ground or fenced pasture. Signs should also indicate all points 

 of topographic and historic interest, such as peaks, emigrant trails, etc. 

 Signs giving the name of the watersheds left and entered should be at 



