National Park Notes 



A77 



needed. The El Portal Road is being widened to twenty feet, and rock 

 copings and concrete ditches and culverts are being built, so that by the 

 end of this year it will be a boulevard of very slight grade from El 

 Portal to the valley. Three new trails were constructed during the 

 season. One leading from Lake Merced up Emerick Creek, and crossing 

 the low divide into Tuolumne Meadows, will enable travel to enter the 

 Tuolumne Meadows by this route much earlier than over Vogelsang 

 Pass. Another new trail leaves the Tioga Road at Yosemite Creek; 

 crossing and following up Yosemite Creek, it enters the Ten Lake 

 Basin. We understand that the trail proposed by the Sierra Club to 

 cross the Tuolumne Canon at Pate Valley will be undertaken this sum- 

 mer. The third trail built last summer is the Ledge Trail back of Camp 

 Curry, which was made safe and improved. The Tioga Road justified 

 its existence last year, when hundreds of automobiles took advantage of 

 this opportunity to cross the Sierra through this park. In co-operation 

 with the State Fish and Game Commission, a fish hatchery is to be es- 

 tablished in Yosemite near the site of the old power plant, and it is 

 hoped that this new hatchery will be in operation this summer. 



SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK 



The discovery of a large limestone cave in the Sequoia National Park 

 has added materially to the park's attractions. Explorers have entered 

 the cave 4000 feet thus far, and some of the caverns are unusually beau- 

 tiful. It is the director's idea to have this cave lighted by indirect 

 lighting, and to use electricity, thus avoiding the blackening of the walls 

 by the use of torches. The road was built from the Giant Forest down 

 to the Marble Fork and a bridge constructed across this fork. A wood- 

 en stairway was also built to the top of Moro Rock and a hundred miles 

 of trail cleared up and repaired. 



GENERAL GRANT NATIONAL PARK 



Plans for a new and larger camp and an extension of the road and 

 water system were prepared by the landscape engineer sent out for the 

 purpose. 



MT. RAINIER NATIONAL PARK 



Travel to this park taxed to the limit the capacity of the hotels and 

 camps last summer. Many new trails leading out from Paradise Valley 

 were constructed, and the trail encircling the mountain was put in ex- 

 cellent condition, with well-constructed shelter cabins along the route. 



CRATER LAKE NATIONAL PARK 



The grading of the rim road was continued and a splendid new trail 

 built from the lodge to the shore of the lake. 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK 



This park has again justified its existence by last season's travel, 

 which exceeded 100,000. The annual appropriation of $10,000 is so small 



