Rubicon. The quaking aspens were dropping
their leaves, the tang of coming winter was in the air, mornings and
evenings, yet the middle of the day was so warm that we drank deeply
of the waters of the naturally carbonated springs. No, this statement
is scarcely one of fact. It was warm, but had it been cold, we, or,
at least, I should have drank heartily of the waters because I liked
them. They are really delicious, and thousands have testified to their
healthfulness.

We saw the station of the water company, where a man remains through
the year to register the river's flow and the snowfall. Then we passed
a large lily lake to the left,--a once bold glacial lake now rapidly
nearing the filled-up stage ere it becomes a mountain meadow--and were
fairly on the Georgetown grade, the sixty mile road that reaches from
McKinney's to Georgetown. It is a stern road, that would make the
"rocky road to Dublin" look like a "flowery bed of ease," though we
followed it only a mile and a half to leave it for the steep trail
that reaches Rock Bound Lake. This is one of the larger of the small
glacial lakes of the Tahoe Region, and is near enough to Rubicon
Springs to be reached easily on foot.

From a knoll close by one gains an excellent panorama of Dick's,
Jack's and Ralston's Peaks. Tallac and Pyramid are not in sight. The
fishing here is excellent, the water deep and cold and the lake large
enough to give one all the exercise he needs in rowing.

On the summit of the Georgetown road one looks down upon the nearby
placid bosom of Buck Island Lake. It received this name from Hunsaker.
The lake is very irregular in shape, about a third of a mile long,
and a quarter of a mile wide in its widest part. Near one end is a
small island. Hunsaker found the deer swam over to this island to
rest and sleep during the heat of the day, hence the name.

[Illustration: Angora Lakes, Fallen Leaf Lake and Lake Tahoe ]

[Illustration: White Cloud Falls, Cascade Lake]

[Illustration: Upper Eagle Falls, Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe]

The Little Rubicon river flows into Buck Island Lake and out again,
and about two miles below Rubicon Springs the Georgetown road crosses
the river at the foot of the lake.

With these two lakes, and others not far away, fine hunting and
fishing, with several mountains nearby for climbing, the hotsprings,
a fine table and good horses to ride it can well be understood that
Rubicon Springs makes a delightful summer stoppi