258 



Sierra Club Bulletin. 



Camping Out in the Mountains. 

 Comparatively few Californians have much acquaintance with 

 the mountain regions of the State, save those who Hve in them. 

 This is true of even most of the oldest residents. A large propor- 

 tion of the adult inhabitants scarcely have been in the mountains 

 at all. And merely to cross the Sierra Nevada by rail gives 

 little idea of the majesty and beauty of the great range. Rail- 

 roads of necessity seek the lowest grades, which in the Sierra 

 are found in canons hemmed in by walls of rock that obscure 

 nearly all views save those of the depths from which they rise 

 and the heights to which they ascend. And on the hne of the 

 Central Pacific snowsheds prevent the traveler from seeing much 

 of the finest scenery in that part of the Sierra traversed by the 

 road. 



If, however, one could get an unobstructed and leisurely view 

 along every mile of railroad passing through the mountains of 

 California he would still be far from knowing them. The rail- 

 roads are few and the mountains are many. By far the larger 

 part of the area of the State is mountainous, the Sierra Nevada 

 as well as the Coast Range extending from end to end of Cali- 

 fornia, through ten degrees of latitude, and connecting at each 

 extremity with transverse ranges of lofty altitude and much 

 interest 



Furthermore, the railroads, with the exception of a few new 

 lines, penetrate the mountains where lumbering has stripped them 

 of much of their original beauty, and left unsightly, bare, rocky 

 slopes where Nature had provided forests as far as the eye 

 could see. 



Mining, likewise, has marred the aspect of the mountains along 

 many miles of railroads, while fire and grazing have done much 

 more to lessen or destroy the native charm of the much traveled 

 ways. 



So to see the mountains as Nature made them, in all their 

 glory of primitive forest, with their streams running clear and 

 their flanks ungashed by the work of miners, one must leave the 

 famiHar Hnes of travel and penetrate where the whistle of the 

 locomotive has never been heard. And to do this in the best way, 

 so as to learn most about the mountains and gain an abiding 

 love for them, the visitor should go afoot, on horseback or by 

 wagon, and dwell among them, living entirely in the open, by 

 night as well as by day. 



The walker sees most and enjoys most, if well and strong 

 enough for the exertion required. And even for persons not 

 strong, unless disease forbids such exercise, a few miles of 

 leisurely walking in the high Sierra, from day to day, result in 

 rapid increase of health and vigor. It is, indeed, surprising how 



