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John Muir's 'A Near View of the High Sierra'

September 30, 2008

To read John Muir’s writings about nature is to listen to him describe a watercolor landscape, brushstroke by brushstroke. He lived and breathed the wilderness that he explored, and experienced the grandeur of the wild through all of the five senses. Muir eloquently used science, aesthetics, spirituality, and morality to express the environment around him.

In ‘A Near View of the High Sierra’, John Muir is “exploring the glaciers that lie on the head waters of the San Joaquin, Tuolumne, Merced, and Owen’s rivers; measuring and studying their movements, trends, crevasses, moraines, etc” (129). Muir was a gifted scientist who had an expert eye for a changing ecosystem. He set out into Yosemite Valley possessing an unparalleled knowledge of the ecological processes that shaped the region, and an unending desire to observe the continuing transformation.

John Muir was simply enthralled by nature, often taking time to “gaze on the glorious picture” and throw up his “arms to enclose it as in a frame” (130). For him, the land was art. He delighted in showcasing it to others and admiring “the way that the fresh beauty was reflected in their faces” (130). In Muir’s eyes, there was no beauty above that which was natural and wild, and he sought to envelope himself in what the earth had to offer.

For Muri, wilderness was more than the assemblage of a series of complex scientific processes. Alpine mountains in the sunset could assume a “religious consciousness” and take part in “one of the most impressive terrestrial manifestations of God” (131). In this vein, there was little separation between the physical and spiritual world, as these two entities were inextricably linked. Muir entered the wilderness not to search for God, but to be among God.

In exploring nature, John Muir explored life itself. He found explanations for the deepest mysteries of humanity and constantly sought to learn more about the world around him. He was a scientist, philosopher, and author, but above all, John Muir was a mountaineer who simply followed his passion into the wild.

Filed under: Perspectives on the Environment