The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1876-01-29
Mount Tamalpais.

Tired and worn with the ceaseless
round of office drudgery, incident to
the life of clerk in a busy office of
the buster city of the Golden Gate,
nv companion and l, one afternoon
of the first week in June, 1877, plan
ned recreating trip into the coun-
try with serious designs upon the
summit rock of that silent old senti-
mel of the sea, Mt. Tamalpais. To
him who has the sunlight shut off
by the dingy brick walls Of an office,
who treads only upon pavements
and cobblcstones, who has almost
forgotten how sweet the fragrance
of the grass upon the country hills,
the returning spring its thousand
charms to bcstow, calling unrcsist-
ingly for adorers at her verdant
shrine, has siren voice most Turing.
But often in the larger cities she calls
in vain to the lucklcss poor; they
must grind at the mill increasingly,
or did time permit, they could not
afford to seek even for day the
fresh air and flowery fields of the
suburban retreats. Not so in San
Francisco; here the humblest wight,
and there arc many Of his class, can
any day in the week for few cents
exhalc health from the delicious at.
mosphcrc among the oaks and cas-
sias ofAlamcda, Oakland or Brook
lyn, or tread the sod where the sum-
mcr zephyrs blow in Saucilita, or
San Racfel.
On the occasion referred to, the
balmy spring Of this favored region
hu,.' ..l,nost i"dcd into carly SUMMER.
In the interior the sun shone hot.
In the hooks behind the hills, shell
tered from the winds of the sea,
along the region of the coast the eli
mate was most delightful. The air
was filed with the music Of chirping
and singing birds, the tiny insect
pipcd his monotone, and the tinkling
bells of the lazy herds filled up the
measure of the music to charm the
plcasurc-scckcr and 'lull to quictutlc
the nervous cityite- Nature pre-.
scnted lovely aspect, and for sever
al weeks had been planning a trip,
finally deciding upon Mt. Tamalpais
as the objective point. This noun
tain, 5000 feet high, and next in size
to Diablo, is situated about II miles
northwest of San Francisco, and
from the city is the most noticeable
elevation in the region OF the Col
den Gate.
Emmett E., my companion, an
adorcr OF nature and lover Of qui-
ct ramblc, and l, embarked at 4
o'clock p. M, upon the little steam.
er which plies regularly between
the Broadway street pier anG the viii
lagc of Saucilita. AS we should re-
turn the evening of the next day, we
carried no luggage but pair officld
glasses. We had been told that at
the base of the mountain among the
oaks, lived fine old gentleman, a re-
tired physician, DR.. Hutchings, whose
son kept an inn and would entertain
us comfortably that night, and that
we could easily reach that point ere
night set in, and be able if we de e.
sired, to reach the summit Of the
mountain to see the sun rise the next
morning. We steamed out into the
waters of the Bay and down past the
city front towards the entrance, glad
once more to leave the nose and
smoke of the metropolis behind us.
Familiar objects one by one gradu-
ally faded away, and as we passed
Fort Point on the left, turned our
thoughts and eyes toward Saucilita,
where we landed in halfan hour tour