Westbrook High School - Blue and White Yearbook (Westbrook, ME)

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I I Westbrook High School but for its very beautiful scenery. The large canyons, with cliff dwellings placed at advan- tageous points, formed a most beautiful pic- ture. It is from this beautiful scenery that the canyon derives its name, Green Mesa. The next park which we visited was Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. Wliile here we stopped at the Fl Trovar I-Iotel, from which the best view of the canyon may be obtained. On the day of our arrival. the most strenu- ous task that we performed was to sit on the porch of the hotel and gaze at the beautiful scenery. This park is said to be one of the most beautiful in the world. The Colorado River Hows through it for a distance of one hun- dred three miles. The coloring here is be- yond description. As the sun rises and goes through its daily routine. the shadows and colorings change continually. Vllltat one sees at one moment will be entirely different an hour from then. There is a very interesting Indian legend about the Canyon. The Indians believed the Grand Canyon to be the road to I-Ieaven. A great chief mourned the death of his wife. To him came the God Ta-vwoats and offered to prove that his wife was in a happier land by taking him there to look upon her in her hap- piness. Ta-vwoats then made a trail through the protecting mountains and led the chief to the happy land. Thus was created the canvon gorge of the Colorado. On their return. lest the unworthy should find this happv land, Ta- vwoats rolled through the trail a wild, surging river. Thus was created the Colorado River. There are two trails that lead into the can- yon. XVe took the Bright Angle Creek Trail. which is excellently built and is kept in fine condition. The descent was made on mules. and such fun as we had. Aunt Nancy's mule stopped short when in the canyon one dav. and nearly threw the dear lady off his back. It was nearly two hours before we could per- suade the animal to move, but the guide as- sured us that the mules did not act like that very often, which I think is a good thing for I9 the guides, and for the visitors, also. But I haven't told you the very worst of all yet. VVe had to wear hob-nailed boots for tramping purposes. These boots were hired at the hotel. My, weren't they heavy! Imagine hob-nailed boots on Aunt Nancy's dainty little feet, of course it didn't matter about me, because I can wear anything, but Aunty was a good sport and made the best of them. Wfe stayed two weeks at this canyon and took in as many of the wonders as was pos- sible in that short time. We visited the Har- vasu Canyon and Indian Reservation. It seemed to me that we could have spent the summer in that beautiful spot and not have stayed any too long. but we were visiting the National Parks in a few months, not in a few years, so we had to journey on. Our next stop was at Yosemite Valley, which is known as the Land of Enchantment. This National Park is merely a crack, in the earth, seven miles long, and it covers eleven thousand square miles. The valley was once a tortuous river canyon. Later the canyon became the bed of a great glacier. This ex- plains the character of the valley. XVhile we were there we saw many beauti- ful mountain peaks. Some of these were Cathedral Rocks, Fl Capitan, Sentinel Dome, Half Dome and Clouds' Rest. falls were the height to nine Among the many beautiful Yosemite, which are equal in Niagara Falls placed one above the other. lVe also saw the Vernal Falls, and the much cele- brated Bridal Veil. Yosemite Valley has the greatest water spectacle in the world. From California we went to Crater Lake. National Park, Oregon. Crater Lake is a body of water six miles in diameter occupying the crater of an extinct volcano, known as Mt. Marzama. The Lake is cauldron-like in shape. This lake is six miles across and two thousand feet deep, perched among the peaks. Perpen- dicular sides of slaggy lava rise over a thou- sand feet of indigo blue water. Perhaps you have heard this lake called The Lake of Mystery, or The Sea of Silence. These names are very well applied, for the

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'8 The Blue and White sg ge , 1 K 'L L L I T E R R Y 2 9, M Q sg, : , A 5. MY VISIT T0 THE NATIONAL PARKS One day last spring, I was very much sur- prised and pleased to receive a letter from my Aunt Nancy. This is what it said: My dear Peggy, XVould you like to spend your summer va- cation making a tour with me through some of the National Parks in the United States? I wish to get local color for a book which I am going to write. Should I care to go with her? No need of asking that question. fairy godmother had wand over my future. I haven't told you I felt that a new-found been waving a magic yet, but Aunt Nancy writes books, some of the best books that I have ever read, and other people must think they are good also, by the way they are bought -but to go on with the letter: XYe shall have to leave within a month after you receive this, as I wish to be at the Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, when the season opens. My, what a hustle and bustle to replenish my wardrobe, but all I needed was sport clothes. as we did not intend to take in much of the social life. How excited I was on that morning when we started from New York. The journey westward was most interesting, but I won't tell you about it, as nothing very eventful hap- pened. XYe arrived at the Rocky Mountain National Park on Tuesday, and made arrangements to stay there for a few days. This park is noted for its beautiful mountain scenery. There is the home of the Rocky Mountain sheep or Bighorn. These sheep are somewhat larger than the domestic sheep, and they are very powerful and agile. One of the greatest mountains there was I.ong's Peak. Its head towered above every- thing elseg its structure was like an enormous column of solid rock buttressed up on four sides with long rock ledges. At the foot of this mountain is Chasm Lake, whose surface is frozen every month in the year except one. The gorges there were carpeted with many bright-hued flowers, which added greatly to the romantic effect of the park. The painted mountains, also, were a great attraction. Their snow covered tops were rosy at sunrise and sunset, and during the day all shades of trans- lucent grays, mauves and blues. From this place of wonders we went to Mesa Verde National Park, which is also in Colo- rado. Mesa Verde contains many ruins of the pre-- historic cliff dwellers. The First place which we visited was the ruin known as Cliff Palace. As we came to the edge of a canyon we saw, under an overhanging cliff, a small village, which at the Hrst sight looked like a city. The place must have been a community house. It contained over two hundred family dwelling rooms and twenty sacred kivas. Another ini- portant ruin which we visited was the Spruce Tree House. This house was two hundred sixteen feet long and eighty-nine feet wide. It had one hundred sacred rooms and eight sacred kivas. It is estimated that three hun- dred fifty people had lived there. Our guid: showed us places where the house had been built three stories high. Mesa Verde is not only noted for its ruins,

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20 lake is silent and mysterious. It has a won- derful color scheme. The mountain peaks are of grays and silvers. VVith the green of the woods, these colors reflect in the vivid blue of the lake. VVe stopped at a stone hotel which was sit- uated on the rim of the lake. The accommo- dations there were very good. It is said, Of all the fire mountains which. like beacons, once blazed along the Pacific Coast. Mt. Ranier is the noblestf' This is the place which we next visited. This mountain is noted for the glaciers The glaciers fill twenty-eight valleys and cover forty-eight square miles. The most interest-- ing and largest glacier which we visited was Nisqually Glacier. It averages sixteen inches in speed a day. The Nisqually River fiows from a cave in the end of Nisqually Glacier's snout. The river is milky white when it first appears, because of the rock sediment in it. From Mt. Ranier we went to another Fairy- land, Glacier National Park. This park, in northwestern Montana. covers many miles of mountain territory. Its name is derived from sixty Glaciers. It was unlike any place to which I had ever been. Imagine yourself ap- proaching two chains of vast tumbled moun- tains which bear living glaciers in every hol- low, and which break thousands of feet to lower masses. Here there are many lakes of great beauty, and roaring rivers of icy water. Scattered through the park there are nine Mountain Chalet-Villages, which are very unique. XVe stopped at the Many Glacier Hotel, which is in the very heart of the park, on l.ake Mcllermott. It is of Swiss architec- ture. and its timbered walls are stained with many wood carvings. A VVe took many trips on the Auto Stages, which go deep into the Rockies. On our first trip we went to the Two Medicine country, where Two Medicine Lake and River are, also Rising XVolf Mountain and Mt. Rockwell. On another trip we went thirty miles, on the stage to St. Mary's Lake, which is the most beautiful lake in North America, then we took the St. 8 ' The Blue and White Mary's steamer and sailed up the lake ten miles to the Going-to-the-Sun region. Here are the park's finest peaks, Going-to-the-Sun Mountain, Goat Mountain, Red Eagle Moun- tain and Little Chief Mountain. Here are also the Sexton Glacier, Grinnell Lake, and Morn- ing Eagle Falls. After spending a few days there, we went to Yellowstone Park. Yellowstone National Park had always been a land of great mystery to me, and it was with great pleasure that I looked forward to my visit there. I was not disappointed, for its great geysers, hot springs. Waterfalls and fos- sil forests were of great interest. There are five active gevser basins here: the Norris. the Lower, the Upper, the Heart I ake and the Shoshone. Some of the geysers. like Old Faithful, spout at quite regular in- tervals, and burst upward with immense pow- er: others shoot streams at angles, or bubble or foam when in action. The hot-spring terraces are rather awe-in- spiring when seen for the first time. In cer- tain lights, the steaming pools appear vividly colored: the deeper hot pools are often intense- ly green. The incrustations are beautifully crystallized: clumps of grass and flowers which have been submerged in the charged waters become exquisitely plated as if frosted silver. The fossil forests are also of great interest. The largest fossils are found on the banks of the Lamar River. There is also a small for- est near Tower Falls, and just outside the park is another petrified forest which covers more than 35,000 acres. XVe visited these forests on horseback. From this place of wonders we took the train to Kansas City. St. Louis, and home. The nearer East we drew, the more I felt that my vsiit to the National Parks of the Unite-il States had been like a child's visit to Fairy- land, and was only a dream. And when I left my aunt at her home in Massachusetts, I felt more than ever that my travels were an unreality. GER.XLl'llNlE H. VVEIHHER, '23.