NORTHWARD OVER THE JOHN MUIR TRAIL 



HE John Muir Trail is by no means completed. Some very 



JL important sections have been developed by means of the 

 funds appropriated by the legislature of the State of Califor- 

 nia, and these, together with the trails already existing, make 

 it possible to traverse the length of the Sierra from Mount 

 Whitney to Yosemite, but not entirely by the high mountain 

 route that it is hoped will ultimately be opened. When the re- 

 maining links have been joined it will indeed be a magnificent 

 memorial, a highway for devout pilgrims blessing the memory 

 of the prophet who was the first to sing the praises of this glo- 

 rious sequence of mountain, meadow, pass, and lake. 



During the past year there have been two serious interrup- 

 tions to the hitherto steady progress toward the completion and 

 use of the trail. In the first place, Governor Stephens declined 

 to approve the appropriation made by the legislature last spring 

 to continue the construction during the next two years. Sec- 

 ondly, the route was swept from end to end last summer by a 

 consuming horde of sheep and cattle. The first of these un- 

 happy actions cannot now be helped, although the error can 

 perhaps be brought so insistently before its author as to pre- 

 vent a repetition. The second action is not likely to be re- 

 peated, for the protests of last season's campers have been nu- 

 merous and vigorous, and there is assurance from the Forest 

 Service that such abuse of grazing privileges as went on last 

 summer will not again be tolerated. Another such season 

 would permanently injure the feed resources at points essen- 

 tial to all continuous travel along the route laid out for the 

 John Muir Trail. 



The prospect of traversing the Sierra from one end to the 

 other, close to the highest peaks and passes, has been an allur- 

 ing one since the region was first explored. The records of 

 Muir, Solomons, Le Conte, and the State and Federal survey 

 parties must always be the envy of those of us who have fol- 

 lowed after. For to them belong the rich experiences and high 



By Francis P. Farquhar 

 1^ 



