Here I Go Again . . . John Muir

5 January 2017

Tommy, I hope your curiosity works overtime . . . if I have anything to do with it, I'll make sure you remain as curious as possible!! It's either that, or I'm going to start boring . . . or worse . . . embarrassing you! Sometimes you've just gotta "know" something and everything you encounter!

For instance: John Muir. I've heard about him all my life, but only in reference to yesterday's quote along with places he helped "found" like Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks and places named after him such as Muir Woods National Monument, Mount Muir, Muir Glacier, Muir Pass . . . even knew there John Muir trails in Tennessee!!

What I didn't know was that he was the founder of the Sierra Club AND he has a minor planet named after him: 128253 Johnmuir!!!


Lucky for him, Teddy Roosevelt, one of our presidents and a peer of Muir, was just as passionate about preserving areas for public use. In 1903 Roosevelt accompanied Muir on a trip into Yosemite so Muir could prove how mismanagement of the area was ruining the splendor . . . Roosevelt asked Muir to show him "the real Yosemite," so they took off . . . pretty much the two of them . . . camped near Glacier Point . . . a night Roosevelt would never forget.

He lived in the Sierra mountains for most of his life . . . sometimes among Native Americans. He often used the term "home" as a metaphor for both nature and his general attitude toward the natural world itself . . . calling the Sierra Nevada "God's mountain mansion." He didn't return to civilization until he was almost 40 . . . finally marrying and having a family . . . but never really settling. His wife was understanding, and from time to time would send him back to the mountains . . . often with his children in tow. He once told a visitor about his ranch: "This is a good place to be housed in during stormy weather, to write in, to raise children in, but it is not my home. Up there (pointing toward the mountains) is my home."

"The snow is melting into music." ~ John Muir

Incidentally, I have been through Muir Woods . . . home of the gigantic redwood trees! Put it on your Bucket List!! All I can say is that it will take your breath away!