Early in January 1968, the Grateful Dead set out on a three-week, nine-concert tour that took them from San Francisco to Seattle and back. The route loosely followed the archipelago of settlements that trace the Sierra to the Cascades and down to the Coast Range, a human analog to the nested ridges of mountains that define the Western edge of the continent. For the Dead, it was a formative experience, not least because of the memorable hours spent navigating those spectacular mountain passes. 

The mountains were a central part of the tour’s appeal. Two years before, the mountains north of California had inspired the kind of awe they wanted to tap into for their music. High on a ridge, they stopped to look around. “We could see around us for many miles in all directions,” rhythm guitarist Bob Weir remembered. “It was breathtaking to behold, but as we watched, we had a firm realization that we were witnessing something even more beautiful than our eyes could ever take in.” 

The mountains made that clear…

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