The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1923-03-28

est service of the Department of Agriculture. The
Mount of the Holy Cross has hitherto been little
visited becaSse of Its comparative inaccessibility!
In 1916, however. the forest service constructed a
new trail up the side of the mountain, so that 1t
is now possible to ride on horseback to within a
mile of the summit. The starting point Of this
trip is Red Cliff, and the intervening distance to
the peak, II miles, can be covered in from five to
SIX hours under favorable weather conditions. Near
the foot of the peak, where the trail leaves Cross
creek, a shelter cabin has been constructed for the
convenience of visitors e~ssaying the climb. The
trip from the cabin TO the summit may be made
on foot in from two to three hours. The vast pan
Drama of snow-clad mountain peaks, evergreen for
ests, and rolling valleys which greets the eye after
this arduous ascent is one of impressive grandeur.
In ascending Holy Cross to the foot of the cross
the visitor passes through five different and distinct
tree zones. Timberline is at II 500 feet. And all
the way up are flowers; in season the alpine
meadows above timberline are most gorgeous of
all with their myriad blossoms in miniature. In
Rocky Mountain National park, a hundred miles
to the north, have been collected and identified
2S9 species of flowers, q species of trees and
flow erless shrubs and 80 species of ferns, grasses
and rushes.
At Easter time on the eastern slope of the Col
orado Continental Divide the flower of flowers is
the basque flower. Pascha is the Greek form Of
the Hebrew pesach, from pasach-to pass over.
As Easter is the Christian equivalent of the Jew
ish Passover the flower is we'll named. 1t is one
of the buttercup family and a cousin to the anem-
ones-wind flowers. 1t grows In clusters that
often number eight or ten blossoms. The flower
stands eight or ten inches from the ground. Often
the star-shaped blossoms are almost "a inches
across. They range in color from almost purple
to almost white, with a fascinating variety of
shades, all of which may occur in the same cluster.
In the mountains a fall of light snow corresponds
to the spring rain of the plains. In my common
place book l find this, under date of Easter Sun
day:
"A foot or so of light snow fell last night. At
10 80 this morning l took a broom, a basket and
a long knife and started out to gather my Easter
flowers.
"Easter fowersI Certainly. I know an open
space near my log cabin where we're growing thou
sands Of basque flowers and many buttercups and
here and there a violet. I had wandered among
them before the snow came, enjoying their beauty
to the full.
81 plodded off through the snow to the Kit Car
son Corner'-close to the camp of that famous
frontiersman on a beavertrapping expedition in
the Fifties. There I began sweeping off the snow
in zigzag fashion. Soon l found pasque flowers
in such numbers that l grew hard to please and
filed my basket with the largest and most perfect.
They were none the worse for the snow. But the
buttercups and viOlets were forlorn. The next day
the snow was all gone and the field was brilliant
with basque flowers, unframed by their adven-
ture."