Revel in the gentle south of France or
Alpine Switzerland; enjoy the mildness of Florida or the rugged
mountaineering of the Rockies; drink Chianti in an Italian vineyard or
cast a trout fly in a brawling Scottish stream; view fragments of Canton
within gunshot of the Golden Gate and then glimpse utter desert by the
shores of the Salton Sea--in short, choose what you will, and in
California it awaits you.

* * * * *

The breezy bay of San Francisco, blue Tamalpais, and the live-oaks of
Berkeley's campus we left behind, swinging easterly and south through
the hot, rich valley of the San Joaquin until the railroad ended and our
trail began. Before us lay a summer in the Sierras; a summer in no wise
definitely organized in advance, but ninety days of wandering at will
unburdened by itinerary and guided chiefly by the whim of the moment.

A wonder of the world supremely worth seeing is Yosemite and when you
see it, if the possibility offers, avoid the hackneyed methods. The
best way ever devised to get acquainted with the Wonder-Valley, or any
other of Nature's masterpieces, is the simplest: it consists in
progressing upon your own two feet. So it was that we entered the
Yosemite Park, and under our own power, so to speak, we negotiated many
scores of miles over trails good and bad, and often guided by no trail
at all.

To add even a modest description of Yosemite Valley to the far-reaching
bibliography already in existence would be indeed carrying coals to a
literary Newcastle. If you want guidebooks, history, or information upon
its flowers and its trees, simply whisper the word "Yosemite" in any
west-coast bookstore and you will be led to shelves bulging with volumes
that are authoritative, comprehensive, attractive, and, many of them,
interesting. It is suggested, however, that the wonders of the Valley
will break upon you with all the greater splendor if reading about them
is postponed until after you have made visual acquaintance with what
Nature has written under the blue California sky in characters of trees,
cliffs, rushing rivers, giant trees, and myriad flowers.

[Illustration: "The live oaks of Berkeley's campus"

From a photograph by Wells Drury, Berkeley, Cal.]

[Illustration: Looking across the clouds to Mount Adams from the flanks
of Rainier

Copyright 1909 by L. G. Linkletter]

Go, then, as did we, with a pack on your back and without plans. Or,
if needs be, patroni