SIERRA'S CREST and OUR LOFTIEST MOUNTAIN

HE Sierra reaches its mightiest climax a few miles east of the present Sequoia National Park in Mount Whitney, the highest mountain in the United States. No towering, isolated summit is Whitney, like Mount Rainier and Longs Peak, but literally a climax; for here the Sierra has massed her mountains, tumbled them wilfully, recklessly, into one sprawling, titanic heap, as though this were the dumping-ground for all left over after the making of America.

The effect is imposing, breathless, overwhelming.

Out of this mass emerges one higher than the rest. That is Mount Whitney. Its altitude is 14,501 feet.

The journey to Whitney summit is a progress of inspiration and climax. From Visalia automobiles carry you under the very shadows of the Big Trees. From there it is a matter of horseback and pack-train. Over the park boundaries into the magic of the mountains; up the headwaters of the Kaweah; across the splendors of the Great Western Divide; into and over the Kern; then up, up, up, threading passes, skirting precipices, edging glaciers, to the top.

SUMMIT OF TABLE MOUNTAIN Photograph by H. C. Tibbitts

NO TOWERING, ISOLATED SUMMIT IS MOUNT WHITNEY, LIKE MOUNT RAINIER AND LONGS PEAK, BUT LITERALLY A CLIMAX. OUT OF THE MASS EMERGES ONE HIGHER THAN THE REST; THAT IS ALL Photograph by Mark Daniels

THE SUMMIT OF MOUNT WHITNEY, NEARLY THREE MILES HIGH

SUMMIT OF MOUNT WHITNEY. THE STONE SHELTER ON MOUNT WHITNEY'S SUMMIT Photograph by Emerson Hough