Reading John Muir has filled me with enchanted visions of mountains and wildness. So today I drove 12 miles north to the nearest high point, the 867-foot Occoneechee Mountain, and walked its trails. Tall trees block most of the sky in our area, so it was refreshing to see a vista after scrabbling up the white, flaky cliffs on the northeast side of the "mountain."
I thought of Muir and his joy in the wilderness, of living on bread and tea and sleeping on beds of pine needles and cedar boughs while exploring the Yosemite. His idea of freedom was radically different from ours - we tend to think of freedom as having enough money to purchase whatever we happen to want. Muir's freedom was that of time and experience, not comfort.
He pitied the constraints his friends placed on themselves. When his friend Professor Butler came to the Yosemite Valley, Muir tried to convince him to camp in the High Sierra. But the professor only had two days to spend in the region and Muir bade him goodbye.
"I'm glad I'm not great enough to be missed in the busy world," Muir writes. " ... I scrambled home through the Indian Canyon gate, rejoicing, pitying the poor Professor and General, bound by clocks, almanacs, orders, duties, etc., and compelled to dwell with lowland care and dust and din, where Nature is covered and her voice smothered, while the poor, insignificant wanderer enjoys the freedom and glory of God's wilderness."
8 comments :
I think freedom is a state of mind. That looks a beautiful area, lucky to have it near you.
What an inspiring post...I love mountains and woods and these pics are so spiritual like so many of your wonderful photos...making me long for a chance to be there in the photo and explore letting go of the constraints of life...
Yes, freedom is a state of mind - to me, it's freedom from anxiety about the future and trust in God to provide what we need ...
A few years ago I was blessed to spend one of my most favorite days ever in Muir Woods while visiting San Fransisco. It truly was a once in a lifetime experience and I hope to always be able to recall the memory with clarity. Best of all it was experienced with my two best friends. I love the quote about not being so great as to be missed by a busy world! Thanks for the reminder of a wonderful day.
What a great way to spend a day, hiking in the mountains. I go there most every day, if only in my mind. I find the life of John Muir fascinating and also frustrating both for the same reason. He did what I can't do or am unwilling to do! May peace and joy be your companion on every trail!
Cat, I have been wanting to visit the Yosemite area and Northern California ever since I began reading Muir. I'm so glad the post reminded you of a wonderful day in Muir Woods ... Hope to visit there sometime.
Pumpkydine, I think few can survive in the wilderness like John Muir could, but he makes me want to try ... I wish I could have spent the day in the mountains. Occoneechee Mountain is one big hill raised about 400 feet higher than the surrounding hills, and while it has some hiking trails, they don't take all that long to cover. Alas! Still, it's a pleasant excursion with interesting flora, some (like galax) that are remnants from montane regions.
Muir seems to have had such a wonderful sense of balance--he accomplished so much of lasting value but didn't let his activism pull him into the "busy world" mentality. I don't know what it is that lets someone do both of those at once--the ability to keep an objective distance? a strong sense of priority? a clear vision of the difference between a goal and the things you have to do to achieve it? Thanks for a beautiful and thought-provoking post!
Stacy, after immersing myself in Muir's world for a few days, I keep fantasizing about how to be more like him. He knew clearly who he was and what fed his soul. He also had incredible courage and was unashamedly counter-cultural. I wish I knew how he did it - at one point he wrote that God wants us to be brave and trust in him that he will take care of us. He told some Indians that before embarking on a dangerous canoe trip that the Indians were balking at among glaciers in Alaska. It is not my destiny to be an explorer in wild places, but by analogy, I hope to draw on Muir's courage and philosophy when I'm among the glaciers that appear in my own life.
Post a Comment