OCR Text |
Show OVER THE TOP TO THE COAST Few eastern motorists realize that access to thu PnclHc Coast Is not free and open thioughout the entile width of the continent. As a mailer of fact. It Is possible to i each th coast by ino'tor Tor much of th" liorth and siiuth distance only thiu a cutalu few clelts In the mountain wall that cut ofr tho region on the east. "All who havo traversed the Sierras Sier-ras by any of thu mutes," writes C. J. llelden, In the February Iksiio of Motor, "aro well awaio that tho steepest grades are enuountered on tho easlein flunk, but, fortunately, the climb on this side In but a matter mat-ter of two thousand to twenty-flvo hundred feot. On tho western slope however, the grade begins at sn level and slowly ascends Tor soni'1 sUty or seventy miles. An lusp?r-tlon lusp?r-tlon of the road profiles show I hut the average rlso on the east Is Irom flvo hundred to soven hundred foe to the mile, while from tho west It is loss than ono hundred reel por mile. Approaching thu mountains on tho Desert of Nevada, the tiavelr has tho rugged crest In full view and tho passes nre therefore easily distinguished, dis-tinguished, but' the almost tropical forest that spreads like n blanket over tho western slope, shuts out tho snow enpped peaks until the last rise to the summit Is approached." |