In reading and learning about John Muir, I have seen numerous comparisons between him and Henry David Thoreau. Particularly Muir’s tendency to walk across the country and all through the Sierra Nevada Mountains (and probably the whole circumference of the earth, if he had wanted to!) made me think of “Walking” by Henry David Thoreau. (Hmm… HOW WEIRD!) In The National Parks, Carl Pope a chairman of the Sierra Club says, “The essence of John Muir is the John Muir who walks. And it is this act of walking which actually creates a faith for him. A new version of Christianity, a Christianity rooted in place and wildness and nature. It is a Christianity not about the built worship of God, but the worship of God’s creation.” (Pope, “The Scripture of Nature”) I like this a lot, and I bet my mother would to, being very fond of walking herself, except maybe not so intense! In “Walking” Thoreau says “I think that I cannot preserve my health and spirits, unless I spend four hours a day at least, - and it is commonly more than that, - sauntering through the woods and over the hills and fields, absolutely free from all worldly engagements.” (Thoreau, 182) It is not only the act of walking, but within Muir’s writing style emanates with the essence of Transcendentalism. “The philosophical heir of Transcendentalists Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, Muir regarded contact with the natural world as both wholesome and sanctifying, and he spent much of his life exploring uncharted portions of the Sierra Nevada” (Contemporary Authors Online). Muir and the Transcendentalists both reference the healing powers that they see in nature, as shown by the quote from Thoreau above. Muir believed that nature is restorative and medicinal. "...a fast storm and a difficult canyon were just the medicine I needed" (Steep Trails, 13). Many accounts of John Muir's life, including The National Parks and O'Grady's biography, reference how his health would deteriorate when he spent too much time away from the wilderness. He must have been some weird mythical nature man because of the weirdly deep connection he had with nature. This guy would go to Alaska with a bad cough, spend the night on a glacier, and wake up without a cough. "For no lowland microbe can survive on a glacier" ("The Scripture of Nature"). Try and tell me that anyone other than John Muir wouldn't have ended up even more than when they left!!
Here are a few of my favorite John Muir quotes:
“We all travel the milky way together, trees and men; but it never occurred to me until this stormday, while swinging in the wind that trees are travelers, in the ordinary sense. They make many journeys, not extensive ones, it is true; but our own little journeys, away and back again, are only little more than tree-wavings – many of them not so much.” (The Mountains of California, 256)
“None of Nature's landscapes are ugly so long as they are wild…” (Our National Parks, 4)
“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.” (Our National Parks, 42)
“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.” (My First Summer in the Sierra, 211)
"Surely all God's people, however serious or savage, great or small, like to play. Whales and elephants, dancing, humming gnats, and invisibly small mischievous microbes— all are warm with divine radium and must have lots of fun in them. (The Story of My Boyhood and Youth, 149)
"Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike." (The Yosemite, 192)
So a month or so ago I was Google-ing John Muir and found this website where you can read the majority John Muir’s writings (http://www.yosemite.ca.us/john_muir_writings/ - if you are interested!). There I found the book Steep Trails in which he talks about areas of the Pacific Northwest, including Puget Sound, Mount Rainier, and other areas of Washington, in other words MY HOOD. See look what he says, “Tacoma occupies near the head of the Sound a site of great natural beauty” (Steep Trails, 178). YES! Since having discovered this, I have purchased the book (I visited Portland and went to Powell’s Books, not only was that the most books I’ve ever seen in my entire life but the most John Muir books I have ever seen in one place – HEAVEN! Slash completely overwhelming…) I have always had PNW pride, but since having discovered that John Muir could have possibly walked on the same ground as me, makes me even more enthusiastic about living here. He also climbed Mount Rainier!! In The National Parks they talk about Muir’s trip to Washington, and his visit to Mount Rainier, and they mention this line from a letter he wrote to his wife… “Did not mean to climb it, but got excited, and soon was on top” (“The Scripture of Nature”). I like that this quote shows how nature had absolute control over him and would make him do things he didn’t intend to. Gah! Why is he so cool?!
