choice of quick
and enjoyable routes to the Mountain. He may go by automobile, leaving
either city in the morning. After traveling one of the best and most
interesting roads in the country--the only one, in fact, to reach a
glacier--he may take luncheon at noon six thousand feet higher, in
Paradise Park, overlooking great glaciers and close to the line of
eternal snow. Or he may go by the comfortable trains of the Tacoma
Eastern (Milwaukee system) to Ashford, fifty-five miles from Tacoma,
and then by automobile stages, over a picturesque portion of the fine
highway just mentioned, to the National Park Inn at Longmire Springs
(altitude 2,762 feet). Lunching there, he may then go on, by coach
over the new government road, or on horseback over one of the most
inviting mountain trails in America, or afoot, as many prefer. Thus he
{p.049} gains Paradise Park and its far-reaching observation
point, Camp of the Clouds (elevation, 5,800 feet). From the Inn, too,
another romantic bridle path leads to Indian Henry's famous Hunting
Ground, equally convenient as a base of adventure.

[Illustration: Automobile Party above Nisqually Canyon, Pierce County
Road to the Mountain.]

[Illustration: Prof. O. D. Allen's cottage, in the Forest Reserve,
where the former Yale professor has for years studied the flora of the
Mountain.]

Whether the visitor goes to the Mountain by train or by automobile,
his choice will be a happy one. For either route leads through a
country of uncommon charm. Each of them, too, will carry the visitor
up from the Sound to the great and beautiful region on the southern
slopes which includes the Tahoma, Kautz, Nisqually, Paradise and
Stevens canyons, with their glaciers and the wonderful upland plateaus
or "parks" that lie between.

[Illustration: "Ghost Trees" in Indian Henry's. These white stalks
tell of fires set by careless visitors.]

Here let him stay a day or a month. Every moment of his time will be
crowded with new experiences and packed with enjoyment. For here is
sport to last for many months. He may content himself with a day spent
in coasting down a steep snow-field in midsummer, snowballing his
companions, and climbing Alta Vista to look down on the big Nisqually
glacier in the deep bed which it has {p.050} carved for itself, and
up its steep slopes to its neve field on the summit. Or he may explore
this whole region at his leisure. He may climb the hard mountain
trails that radiate from Longm