March, 1907 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



1 1 1 



A Hut on the Trail, Not Too Far from Civilization 



usually for only a part of the way, for a genuine trail is 

 subject to constant degeneration. Often avalanches and 

 trees blow over it, and whole stretches will be covered with 

 broken rock. At other times it shows the blasting effects 

 ot some winter snow slide, which in the northern Rockies 

 comes with such force that bridges are swept away long 

 before the avalanche reaches them. Often mountain streams 

 . change their course, and in this way alter the trail, and in 

 the forest the underbrush will grow so rapidly that the 

 pathway will be choked. Many times the trail is blazed, 

 but more often no tree is cut and one scrambles over dead 

 monarchs of the forest 

 which have fallen across 

 the pathway and on which 

 tender lichens and green 

 moss are beginning to 

 grow. 



They are alluring fea- 

 tures of the open, these 

 trails which lead to glori- 

 ous cliffs and canons, 

 through pine-scented for- 

 ests, v/here the birds sing 

 sweet antiphones, and the 

 sun dances gaily through 

 the occasional clearings. 

 Whether one attempts to 

 scale such tremendous 

 heights as Mt. Stephens, Mt. 

 Sir Donald, or Cathedral 

 Mountain where trained 

 guides are necessary, or 

 takes such minor climbs as 

 the trails afford in the Yoho 

 Valley, Saddleback Moun- 

 tain, at Lake Louise, or the 

 mountains of the Koote- 

 nays, the traveler finds a 

 variety of grand scenery, 

 from icy glaciers to fern- 

 dressed canons, from tor- 

 rential cataracts to purling 

 brooks. One may climb 



by sharp pinnacles and fan- 

 tastic pilasters, and in the 

 blue surface of some moun- 

 tain tarn see the reflection 

 of magnificent peaks or 

 gather the flowers that love 

 the heights, those trophies 

 of the mountaineer which 

 bloom in sheltered spots. 



Chief among the charms 

 of the Canadian Rocky 

 trails are the abundance of 

 wild flowers. Around 

 Emerald Lake, near Field, 

 a charming greenish-blue 

 sheet of water, the trail 

 leads through tall spruce 

 trees and In a half hour, on 

 and near it, twenty-five 

 dlfl-erent varieties of blos- 

 soms have been gathered, a 

 wealth of beauty that 

 makes the ground seem 

 like an Alpine garden. 

 There are delicate moccasin 

 flowers, heliotrope and 

 yellow; gorgeous fields of 

 painter's brush; a wild species of Solomon's seal; for-get- 

 me-nots, white and blue; large beds of yellow violets; the 

 Oregon grape that carpets the ground with rich color; the 

 arbutus and yellow columbine — a goodly array that delights 

 the heart and refreshes the weary climber. To follow the 

 trail around the Lake and Into the Yoho Valley and to 

 stoop and pluck the wayside flower, or make a short detour 

 In search of floral beauties, are delights worth miles of travel. 



Often on a desolate stretch where the avalanche has 

 swept the forest trees away, a multitude of forest flowers 

 will brighten the trail and lend a charm to what otherwise 



A Great Glacier in British Columbia 



