What to see in America . ere is any down-ward path of escape,and becomes a by side in thepark are the two dom-inating heights, LongsPeak, 14,255 feet high,and Mt. Meeker, a triflelower. Longs Peak is a vast wild monolith of granite thatis usually nearly free of ice and snow. It is a hard daysclimb to the summit. There is perhaps no place in theRocky Mountains where the curious gnarled and stuntedtrees which develop near timber line can be seen to betteradvantage than on the side of Longs Peak. They occupya narrow belt at an altitude of about 11,500 feet. The samespecies of trees w
What to see in America . ere is any down-ward path of escape,and becomes a by side in thepark are the two dom-inating heights, LongsPeak, 14,255 feet high,and Mt. Meeker, a triflelower. Longs Peak is a vast wild monolith of granite thatis usually nearly free of ice and snow. It is a hard daysclimb to the summit. There is perhaps no place in theRocky Mountains where the curious gnarled and stuntedtrees which develop near timber line can be seen to betteradvantage than on the side of Longs Peak. They occupya narrow belt at an altitude of about 11,500 feet. The samespecies of trees which, lower down, are tall and straight, arehere strangely dwarfed and twisted. These stunted treesgrow very slowly. The average trunk or branch increases indiameter about an inch in a century; and yet some of thetrees have trunks as much as three feet in diameter. Thecold is excessive, and the strong winter winds tear the snow-flakes into minute ice crystals, and hurl them with such force Montezuma Mountain Colorado 411. Mt. Wilson that they act inmuch the sameway as a sandblast. They cutthe bark fromthe windwardside of the trees,and shear off thetender twigs thathave started inexposed placesduring the pre-vious summer. The prevailing westerly wind bends thetrees so that many have the appearance of trying to some places the trees develop only where they are affordedspecial protection, such as the leeward side of a this struggle with wind and flying sand, cold, and ninemonths of snow they seldom attain a height of over eightfeet, and many grow along the ground like vines. The gentler slopes of the Continental Divide are on thewest, a heavily wooded region diversified by gloriouslymodeled mountain masses, and watered by many streams and rock-boundlakes. On theeast side the de-scent from themain ridge issteep in the ex-treme. Preci-pices plunge twoor three thou-sand feet into
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Keywords: ., bookauthorjohnsonc, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookyear1919
