HITTING THE HIGH SPOTS!

There are three trees in the Park that are typical of timberline -- that point where Nature's forces lock horns in order that they might ascertain the most powerful. On these rocky crests, battered and scarred and twisted by the fierce winds and deformed by winter's heavy snows we find such tree pioneers as the White Barked Pine, the Mountain Hemlock and the Alpine Fir. A fourth tree, the Alaska Cedar, also ventures into this domain here and there, but the first three mentioned are the most characteristic. They could be aptly termed the "Three Musketeers" of timberline.

Somehow or other their gnarled forms typify the true spirit of the pioneer and trail blazer -- a spirit that is responsible for the development of the west, yes, even our entire country. For like the pioneers who were always found on the fringe of things enduring and enjoying the hardships that came their way these three trees are not found anywhere but in the alpine regions on "The Mountain". They shun the lower valleys where existence is more serene. The cover drawing attempts to portray a White Barked Pine that grows out upon a rocky promontory of the Tatoosh Range. One wonders, upon seeing it (and few do for the climb is a hard and treacherous one) how it manages to exist under such adverse conditions.