During the summer of 1894, the giant sequoia trees -- the oldest living things on earth -- are being felled for lumber in northern California. Francie finds a note in a hole of an old sequoia stump and recognizes her sister's handwriting. But Carrie died in an accident six years earlier. Could the secret still be important? Francie is determined to find out. When her search turns dangerous and she needs to get to St. Joseph fast, she's faced with the choice to either give up -- or to ride the flume, the rickety track that carries lumber from the mills in the mountains to the lumberyard in St. Joseph. Should Francie risk her life for the secret her sister fought to keep?* * *She'd only heard of two men riding the flume successfully -- those two last summer. They had been arrested as soon as they got to St. Joseph. Two others had tried before that. One had ended up in the hospital, and the other man had been killed....Her heart began to beat in slow, painful thuds. Was it such a crazy idea? Did she dare try it? Could she ride the flume to St. Joseph?