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Mountaineering Essays
One of the world’s foremost writers of the mountaineering essay?his writings are finely wrought expressions of the transcendental joy he found in the mountains?John Muir also founded the Sierra Club in 1892 as a way of supporting his belief that Americans must preserve national parks throughout the country in order that future generations might be spiritually inspired. Characterized by an iron endurance and an insatiable curiosity, Muir vowed to spend his days studying God’s unwritten Bible?nature?or what he termed the "University of the Wilderness." Muir early on learned to keep a journal in the manner of Emerson, but he is also considered one of America’s pioneer glaciologists, an interest he gained while wandering in Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada mountains. Whether frozen in a subzero blizzard on Mount Shasta, seemingly doomed on the unforgiving slopes of Mount Ritter, or exhilarated by the ice-shapes viewed from the summit of Mount Rainier, Muir reveled in the mountain experience.
This volume contains eleven mountain essays that include both adventurous narrative, joyful exultation, and descriptions of natural features such as alpine soil beds, ancient glaciers and living glaciers, and mountain sculpture. In each, Muir maintains a careful and subtle balance between the physical aspects of ascending and the more symbolic observations of the sublimity of his surroundings. Mountains are for him a source of discovery that provide an affirmation of the human spirit.
This volume contains eleven mountain essays that include both adventurous narrative, joyful exultation, and descriptions of natural features such as alpine soil beds, ancient glaciers and living glaciers, and mountain sculpture. In each, Muir maintains a careful and subtle balance between the physical aspects of ascending and the more symbolic observations of the sublimity of his surroundings. Mountains are for him a source of discovery that provide an affirmation of the human spirit.
175 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1984
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About the author
John Muir
598 books1,424 followersJohn Muir (1838 – 1914) was a Scottish-American naturalist, author, and early advocate of preservation of wilderness in the United States. His letters, essays, and books telling of his adventures in nature, especially in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, have been read by millions. His activism helped to preserve the Yosemite Valley, Sequoia National Park and other wilderness areas. The Sierra Club, which he founded, is now one of the most important conservation organizations in the United States. One of the best-known hiking trails in the U.S., the 211-mile (340 km) John Muir Trail, was named in his honor. Other such places include Muir Woods National Monument, Muir Beach, John Muir College, Mount Muir, Camp Muir and Muir Glacier.
In his later life, Muir devoted most of his time to the preservation of the Western forests. He petitioned the U.S. Congress for the National Park bill that was passed in 1890, establishing Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks. The spiritual quality and enthusiasm toward nature expressed in his writings inspired readers, including presidents and congressmen, to take action to help preserve large nature areas. He is today referred to as the "Father of the National Parks" and the National Park Service has produced a short documentary about his life.
Muir's biographer, Steven J. Holmes, believes that Muir has become "one of the patron saints of twentieth-century American environmental activity," both political and recreational. As a result, his writings are commonly discussed in books and journals, and he is often quoted by nature photographers such as Ansel Adams. "Muir has profoundly shaped the very categories through which Americans understand and envision their relationships with the natural world," writes Holmes. Muir was noted for being an ecological thinker, political spokesman, and religious prophet, whose writings became a personal guide into nature for countless individuals, making his name "almost ubiquitous" in the modern environmental consciousness. According to author William Anderson, Muir exemplified "the archetype of our oneness with the earth".
Muir was extremely fond of Henry David Thoreau and was probably influenced more by him than even Ralph Waldo Emerson. Muir often referred to himself as a "disciple" of Thoreau. He was also heavily influenced by fellow naturalist John Burroughs.
During his lifetime John Muir published over 300 articles and 12 books. He co-founded the Sierra Club, which helped establish a number of national parks after he died and today has over 1.3 million members. Author Gretel Ehrlich states that as a "dreamer and activist, his eloquent words changed the way Americans saw their mountains, forests, seashores, and deserts." He not only led the efforts to protect forest areas and have some designated as national parks, but his writings gave readers a conception of the relationship between "human culture and wild nature as one of humility and respect for all life," writes author Thurman Wilkins.
His philosophy exalted wild nature over human culture and civilization. Turner describes him as "a man who in his singular way rediscovered America. . . . an American pioneer, an American hero." Wilkins adds that a primary aim of Muir’s nature philosophy was to challenge mankind’s "enormous conceit," and in so doing, he moved beyond the Transcendentalism of Emerson and Thoreau to a "biocentric perspective on the world."
In the months after his death, many who knew Muir closely wrote about his influences.
In his later life, Muir devoted most of his time to the preservation of the Western forests. He petitioned the U.S. Congress for the National Park bill that was passed in 1890, establishing Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks. The spiritual quality and enthusiasm toward nature expressed in his writings inspired readers, including presidents and congressmen, to take action to help preserve large nature areas. He is today referred to as the "Father of the National Parks" and the National Park Service has produced a short documentary about his life.
Muir's biographer, Steven J. Holmes, believes that Muir has become "one of the patron saints of twentieth-century American environmental activity," both political and recreational. As a result, his writings are commonly discussed in books and journals, and he is often quoted by nature photographers such as Ansel Adams. "Muir has profoundly shaped the very categories through which Americans understand and envision their relationships with the natural world," writes Holmes. Muir was noted for being an ecological thinker, political spokesman, and religious prophet, whose writings became a personal guide into nature for countless individuals, making his name "almost ubiquitous" in the modern environmental consciousness. According to author William Anderson, Muir exemplified "the archetype of our oneness with the earth".
Muir was extremely fond of Henry David Thoreau and was probably influenced more by him than even Ralph Waldo Emerson. Muir often referred to himself as a "disciple" of Thoreau. He was also heavily influenced by fellow naturalist John Burroughs.
During his lifetime John Muir published over 300 articles and 12 books. He co-founded the Sierra Club, which helped establish a number of national parks after he died and today has over 1.3 million members. Author Gretel Ehrlich states that as a "dreamer and activist, his eloquent words changed the way Americans saw their mountains, forests, seashores, and deserts." He not only led the efforts to protect forest areas and have some designated as national parks, but his writings gave readers a conception of the relationship between "human culture and wild nature as one of humility and respect for all life," writes author Thurman Wilkins.
His philosophy exalted wild nature over human culture and civilization. Turner describes him as "a man who in his singular way rediscovered America. . . . an American pioneer, an American hero." Wilkins adds that a primary aim of Muir’s nature philosophy was to challenge mankind’s "enormous conceit," and in so doing, he moved beyond the Transcendentalism of Emerson and Thoreau to a "biocentric perspective on the world."
In the months after his death, many who knew Muir closely wrote about his influences.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
October 18, 2019
I've read a number of mountaineering books that are personal accounts of ascents. This is the first I have read that hints at the spirituality and wonder of why people climb. It's also fascinating comparing Muir's ascents in the 1800's to methods today - a lot of what he does as a veteran mountaineer might astonish modern mountaineers. It's good stuff, though he does tend to ramble of about species of flowers and glacial action for awhile in each essay.
June 15, 2020
As the name implies, this book is a series of essays written by John Muir, a prominent outdoorsman and one of the primary reasons America has so many national parks.
Muir eloquently describes his romps around the woods, climbs up prominent peaks (Mt. Shasta, Rainier), and other adventures in the untouched western U.S. wilderness. His writing is quite beautiful, invoking feelings of awe towards nature and providing vivid imagery to put the reader in Muir's own boots. An excerpt: "when one of the greatest and most impressively sublime of all the mountain views I've ever enjoyed it came full in sight – more than three hundred miles of closely packed peaks of the great Coast Range, sculptured in the boldest manner imaginable, their naked tops and dividing ridges dark in color, their sides in the cañons, gorges, and valleys between them loaded with glaciers and snow. From this standpoint I counted upwards of two hundred glaciers, while dark-centered, luminous clouds with fringed edges hovered and crawled over them, now slowly descending, casting transparent shadows on the ice and snow, now rising high above them, lingering like loving angels guarding the crystal gifts they had bestowed."
There is no mistaking Muir's fascination and sheer love for the wilderness: his writing conveys just how much nature means to him and how he sees it differently than the average hiker.
This book is highly recommended for any outdoors person, and should be read while experiencing nature (preferably similar to where was!).
If you're wanting to experience Californian nature and mountains, I highly recommend Trinity Alps Resort, located near Redding, CA. Established in the 1920's (my great-grandfather went there as a child), it is a wonderful place to relax with friends and family and experience nature. The hike to Emerald Lake is challenging (26 miles round-trip from TAR), but entirely worth it: landscapes straight out of this book are present along the entire trail.
See also: Albert Bierstadt's complete works, California's High Sierra.
Muir eloquently describes his romps around the woods, climbs up prominent peaks (Mt. Shasta, Rainier), and other adventures in the untouched western U.S. wilderness. His writing is quite beautiful, invoking feelings of awe towards nature and providing vivid imagery to put the reader in Muir's own boots. An excerpt: "when one of the greatest and most impressively sublime of all the mountain views I've ever enjoyed it came full in sight – more than three hundred miles of closely packed peaks of the great Coast Range, sculptured in the boldest manner imaginable, their naked tops and dividing ridges dark in color, their sides in the cañons, gorges, and valleys between them loaded with glaciers and snow. From this standpoint I counted upwards of two hundred glaciers, while dark-centered, luminous clouds with fringed edges hovered and crawled over them, now slowly descending, casting transparent shadows on the ice and snow, now rising high above them, lingering like loving angels guarding the crystal gifts they had bestowed."
There is no mistaking Muir's fascination and sheer love for the wilderness: his writing conveys just how much nature means to him and how he sees it differently than the average hiker.
This book is highly recommended for any outdoors person, and should be read while experiencing nature (preferably similar to where was!).
If you're wanting to experience Californian nature and mountains, I highly recommend Trinity Alps Resort, located near Redding, CA. Established in the 1920's (my great-grandfather went there as a child), it is a wonderful place to relax with friends and family and experience nature. The hike to Emerald Lake is challenging (26 miles round-trip from TAR), but entirely worth it: landscapes straight out of this book are present along the entire trail.
See also: Albert Bierstadt's complete works, California's High Sierra.
November 27, 2020
I don't fancy all the pagan childish talk of "plant people" and "mountain cathedrals" or the obsession with "Mother Nature". Muir's "God" seemed to more Pan of the Pagans than the Holy Trinity of Christianity.
February 19, 2021
A beautiful slog. Thoreau's influence is clear the whole way through.
April 27, 2024
he is so happy about the mountains. always. he is never not happy to be in nature.
April 8, 2012
I definitely want to read the rest of John Muir's short stories throughout this book. Muir was an absolute legend in the earliest days of Yosemite valley around the turn of the 20th century. He is ultimately responsible for saving many national park areas in the U.S. as well as starting the Seirra Club, a totally epic conservation organization that still exists today. The story "A Near View of The High Sierras" starts with him meeting a couple of painters in Yosemite Valley who wished to be taken to a beautiful landscape deserving of a painting. He had just been in an amazing area around Tuolumne Meadows so he took them there. After he got them set up he took off for an attempt to summit nearby Mt. Ritter. It was a day's walk to the base so he took a blanket and a loaf of bread and set out. Muir is incredibly descriptive in his writing. At times it was hard for me to follow because he took two pages to describe a meadow. I often read a few pages twice just because i felt myself zoning out while riding the train to work. Coming from a time without GoPro cameras to capture 60 frames per second for an upload to YouTube, he had to be incredibly descriptive to even get the gist of what he was seeing, thus the need for complex and lengthy descriptions by our standards today. He commented a few times throughout the story that he should teach himself how to paint so that he could show the world this amazing place that he lived in for most of the year. His attempt at summiting Mt Ritter was thwarted by poor weather and even poorer climbing conditions. He had to down-climb several sections because the rock was covered in a thin layer of ice and without crampons or ice axes it became impossible, so he bivied out two days with just a blanket and a loaf of bread and made back for painters' camp. I wish I were half as badass as mountaineers in that time. With all of our high-tech gear I feel like we've become increasingly soft, attaining a pathetic state relying more on our gear than our skill and ability to learn from nature, something I'm sure that our mountaineering ancestors would laugh at.
Check out my other short story reviews from my blog of 30 day life experiments at http://theyoungurbanunprofessional.co... you can also follow me on Twitter @YoungandUrban
Check out my other short story reviews from my blog of 30 day life experiments at http://theyoungurbanunprofessional.co... you can also follow me on Twitter @YoungandUrban
July 27, 2011
Liked it a lot. Found lots of memorable quotes. He was a good writer, able to conjure the words, sentences, and chapters to take people into the wilderness with him. He wrote "I never see a beautiful flower or a fine combination in nature without thinking of you and wishing you were there to appreciate it with me."
June 24, 2012
This book is so incredibly beautifully written, it's hard to believe Muir was freezing in the wilds of the Sierra Nevadas when he wrote these essays. The descriptions of the mountains and glaciers are so masterful, inspiring. Breathless. You can imagine what he must have felt being in this vast wilderness alone, as a scientist as well as spiritually.
February 5, 2011
Yep, typical John Muir, excited and hyper-happy even when he's freezing to death in a mountain storm! *laughs* It's really good reading tho, and Muir's happiness is infectious. :)
August 31, 2014
More good nature reading, a little more cold and icy than the last one: more glaciers, high mountain peaks, blizzards, etc. But still, a good breath of fresh, if frigid, air.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews