in still pools
to rest, dashing through gates of rock, pine hung, pine bridged, pine
buried; twinkling and laughing in the sunshine, or frowning in "dowie
dens" in the blue pine gloom. And there, for a mile or two in a
sheltered spot, owing to the more southern latitude, the everlasting
northern pine met the trees of other climates. There were dwarf oaks,
willows, hazel, and spruce; the white cedar and the trailing juniper
jostled each other for a precarious foothold; the majestic redwood tree
of the Pacific met the exquisite balsam pine of the Atlantic slopes,
and among them all the pale gold foliage of the large aspen trembled
(as the legend goes) in endless remorse. And above them towered the
toothy peaks of the glittering mountains, rising in pure white against
the sunny blue. Grand! glorious! sublime! but not lovable. I would
give all for the luxurious redundance of one Hilo gulch, or for one day
of those soft dreamy "skies whose very tears are balm."

Bergens Park

Up ever! the road being blasted out of the red rock which often
overhung it, the canyon only from fifteen to twenty feet wide, the
thunder of the Fountain, which is crossed eight times, nearly
deafening. Sometimes the sun struck the road, and then it was
absolutely hot; then one entered unsunned gorges where the snow lay
deep, and the crowded pines made dark twilight, and the river roared
under ice bridges fringed by icicles. At last the Pass opened out upon
a sunlit upland park, where there was a forge, and with Birdie's shoe
put on, and some shoe nails in my purse, I rode on cheerfully, getting
food for us both at a ranch belonging to some very pleasant people,
who, like all Western folk, when they are not taciturn, asked a legion
of questions. There I met a Colonel Kittridge, who said that he
believed his valley, twelve miles off the track, to be the loveliest
valley in Colorado, and invited me to his house. Leaving the road, I
went up a long ascent deep in snow, but as it did not seem to be the
way, I tied up the pony, and walked on to a cabin at some distance,
which I had hardly reached when I found her trotting like a dog by my
side, pulling my sleeve and laying her soft gray nose on my shoulder.
Does it all mean sugar? We had eight miles farther to go--most of the
way through a forest, which I always dislike when alone, from the fear
of being frightened by something which may appear from behind a tree.
I saw a beautiful white fox, se