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Sierra Club Bulletin. 



until, five miles from San Andres, the trail suddenly 

 plunges into a fragrant pine forest. This forest deserves 

 the name, being composed of trees over seventy feet in 

 height and growing just far enough apart to give them 

 room for symmetrical development. There is an occa- 

 sional oak, and higher up firs are sprinkled among the 

 pines. Here and there gray, aloe-like air-plants with pink 

 blossoms cling high up on the trunks and branches. The 

 forest begins at 9,500 feet and timber line is at 13,500. 



The trail proceeds with a gentle grade straight for 

 the mountain, whose shining peak is seen now and then 

 over the tree-tops. Gradually it becomes steeper, though 

 never steep enough to necessitate zigzags. The forest 

 continues much the same nearly to timber line, above 

 which the whole landscape is gray, save for the white 

 triangle of snow above. The trail comes out on the 

 saddle between the snow-peak and Cerro Negro, and 

 there below, on the other side lies the "Hot Country" — 

 not, as you might suppose, a sunburnt plain, but range 

 after range of blue and purple mountains, stretching away 

 to the southeast as far as the eye can reach and melting 

 off into the paler blues of the tropic Mexican sky. 



The cave, which is a small one and has none of the 

 comforts and luxuries described in Swiss Family Rob- 

 inson, is situated to the left of the trail, in the last group 

 of pines that grow on the east side of a recent lava flow. 

 There are several similar lava flows on this side of the 

 mountain. Instead of cutting channels, like rivers of 

 water, these rivers of rock remain as flat-topped ridges, 

 with nearly constant width and thickness throughout their 

 length. 



A chilly two hours* ride awaits the ambitious climber, 

 with a start before dawn after the night in the cave. 

 Fifteen thousand feet is about as high as a horse feels 

 like going with a man on his back, and the rest of the 

 climb is a steady pull. At sea-level it would be easy, but 

 here just one-half the earth's atmosphere is below us. 



