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John Muir

I haven't been out shooting, or even out not shooting, due to other activities around Christmas. And I don't expect I'll be able to get out until January sometime. But my heart has actually been getting some improvement...

I've been reading John Muir for the past month or so. I noticed today that on my way out of my office, I was looking at the big cumulus clouds over the Phoenix area (it is cloudy here once in a while) and calling them "sky furniture", "sky flowers", and wondering what wonderful descriptions Mr. Muir would apply to them.

That made me realize how much his books, his thoughts, are affecting me, and in a positive way.

I REALLY enjoyed his "My First Summer in the Sierra" and am now enjoying his "Steep Trails" book. I've read others, including "The Yosemite" and "The Grand Canyon of the Colorado", but the First Summer and Steep Trails are my favorites.

In these two books he offers narratives of his travels. The others are more simple descriptions. They are all fantastic if you like reading about nature with a very literary prose and knowledgable facts. He was clearly well educated and knew very much about botany, geology, and perhaps even human nature.

He discusses various measurements and I have no clue as to how he determined the values such as the height of trees or girth of their trunks. I assume he must have had some instruments with him but I've yet to read of any other than a barometer. How did he know his elevation at various locations he visited?

I really get a kick out of some of his sayings and observations. His writing makes me want to follow in his exact footsteps, heading off into the wilderness with nothing but flour, sugar, and tea.


Here are some links that I think anyone would enjoy looking at:


John Muir: A Brief Biography http://vault.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/life/muir_biography.aspx
A great, quick overview of the man on the Sierra Club website, the organization that he co-founded.

John Muir - WikiPediahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Muir
More details with more dates as only WikiPedia can do it.

John Muir Books on Amazonhttp://www.amazon.com/John%20Muir/e/B000API2FA/ref=la_B000API2FA_af?rh=n:283155,p_82:B000API2FA
If you have a Kindle there are a number of these that you can get for free.

I think he will certainly inspire me to pay more attention to what I see in the world, starting with today's cloud formations. I only wish I'd encountered his books earlier!

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NOTE: I believe the John Muir images to be public domain images (according to my Googling).