Yosemite National Park: John Muir’s Dream
by Tony Perrottet
In a world now filled with high-tech marvels, pure nature can still amaze us – at least, the view from the rim of the Yosemite Valley never fails to elicit cries of glee. This has always been the case: Back in 1869, a penniless Scottish-born wanderer named John Muir, who had walked 200 miles from San Francisco, first peered down into that yawning expanse and let his own show of delight: “I shouted and gesticulated in a wild burst of ecstasy,” Muir recalled later, upon beholding cliffs “all a-tremble with the thundering tones of falling water.” With its sheer walls and granite towers “like the spires of Gothic cathedrals,” Yosemite impressed the young Muir deeply, and he swore to explore its every nook and cranny.
He ended up living in the remote valley for several years, surviving on his wits like a Victorian flower child, an experience that eventually led him to become the most famous nature writer of his era and America’s pioneer environmentalist.
Muir took up residence in a rustic log shack over a flowing river in Yosemite, working as a freelance mountain guide, and spending every spare minute climbing granite mountains. He would gaze in rapture at its waterfalls, make detailed studies of the delicate forest flowers and fill endless notebooks with observations that exploded with passion for nature.
Within a decade, the “wild man” John Muir was being recognized by American literati as a self-taught genius, and by the end of the century he had become the top spokesman for conservation in the U.S.: His many lyrical books on Yosemite were instrumental in establishing this remote wilderness as a National Park in 1890.
Today, the name of John Muir is emblazoned all over the state of California – it is given to high schools, state forests, hiking trails, parks, roads, even medical centers – but his greatest memorial remains the awe-inspiring landscape of Yosemite itself.
