Mount Tamalpais is not so lofty as Pike’s Peak, or Mount Hood, but what it loses in altitude it makes up in splendor, and a trip to its summit, over the crookedest railroad in the world, offers a view that is unsurpassed.

Leaving the ferry building, we have a delightful ride on the bay, passing close to Alcatraz Island, where the military prison is located, with a view of Fort Point and Fort Baker, passing near the United States Quarantine Station on Angel Island, and arrive at Sausalito, perched on the hillside like some hamlet on the Rhine; then by rail to Mill Valley, a beautiful little town nestling at the foot of the mountain like a Swiss village.  Here we change to the observation train drawn by a mountain-climbing traction engine, and begin the climb.  The ascent is a gradual one, the steepest grade being a trifle over seven per cent, while the train twists and turns around two hundred and sixty curves from the base to the summit.  We enter a forest of the giant redwoods, which, enormous in girth, and three hundred feet high, have defied the elements for thousands of years.  Crossing a canon filled with madrones, oaks, and laurels, we look down upon a panorama of exceeding beauty.  At a certain point the train seems about to jump off into space, but it makes a sharp curve around a jutting cliff on the edge of the canon, and a broader view bursts upon us, a view unparalleled for its magnificence.

[Illustration:  Mount Tamalpais]

About half way up we reach the double bowknot, where the road parallels itself five times in a short distance, and where one can change cars and go down the other side of the mountain to Muir Woods.  We stay by the train, and toil upward, over Slide Gulch, through McKinley Cut, and at last, with aching but beauty-filled eyes, we reach the summit.  From the top of most mountains surrounding peaks shut off the view to some extent, but from the summit of Mount Tamalpais there is an unbroken view.  Rising as it does almost from the shores of the bay, there are miles and miles of uninterrupted view.  Far below us the ocean and the bay shimmer like a mirror, and majestic ocean liners, outward bound, look like toy boats.  To the left Mount Hamilton rises out of the purple haze, while to the right Mount Diablo pushes its great bulk above the clouds.

[Illustration:  An uninterrupted view]

It is claimed that twenty or more cities and towns can be seen from the top of Mount Tamalpais.  Whether this be true or not, I cannot say, but it is certain that we saw a good many, near and far, and it is also true that on a clear day the Sierras, one hundred and fifty miles distant, can be plainly seen.

From the hotel near the summit one gets an unsurpassed view of San Francisco Bay, the Cliff House, and the Farallone Islands; and if you are fortunate enough to see the sun sink behind the ocean, between the portals of the Golden Gate, you will never forget the sight.  All the colors of the artist’s palette are thrown across the sky, changing from red to orange, from orange to purple; each white-capped wave is touched with a rosy phosphorescence, and scintillates like a thousand jewels.