JOHN MUIR..YOSEMITE...EARTH DAY

Happy Birthday John Muir.... April 21st, 1838

I often wonder what it was that turned me on so incessantly to the "Wonders of Nature".  I am sure the days on the childhood Ranch ingrained the Natural Cycle of life, but after reading this article below on John Muir it had to be my first trip to Yosemite.

At the age 12 Ray Nordfelt and I decided we wanted to go on a real adventure. So one day after flag football, we saw a flyer posted on the YMCA bulletin board advertising a trip to Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks. How do we get the money we asked?.........sell peanuts, ok that should be easy.  So for the next 6 weeks we carried armfuls of Peanut cans all around Riverside. I remember my mom dropping us off in some strange neighborhoods saying this looks like a good one. Only to be chased by crazy protective dogs requiring acrobatic jumps over chain link fences... hmm maybe mom was telling me something. (By the way she just passed at 94 year old what an inspiration she was).

NEVADA FALLS AT TOP, MIST TRAIL AND
VERNAL FALLS

So Ray and I raised our needed $250 and off we went. As I reflect, the first thing I remember was being in the back of a hot cattle truck and lumbering up old Hwy 395, and a young black kid who had to pee. He asked if they would stop and the counselor said no just go pee out the back of the truck so he did, and as he peed the big blue cadillac behind us put on his windshield wipers and this old man kept looking up at the sky wondering where the heck this stream of water was coming from. I couldn't stop laughing

LOOKS LIKE A RELAXING POOL AT THE TOP OF
OF NEVADA FALLS BUT MANY PEOPLE
HAVE GONE OVER THE EDGE

After setting up camp in the valley of Yosemite, the next day we hiked up to Glacier point and over to Nevada falls. And at the top swam in the pool right above the falls. Sliding down the hard granite and landing in the water we never even realized what was on the other side was certain death, which by the way, many people have done since.                                                                             I just remember setting there taking in the valley and wondering as John Muir put it, " At God's Inventions", and thinking this must be the most beautiful place in the world. Thank you John Muir for being so adamant, writing your stories, meeting with Teddy R., starting the Sierra Club and helping lay the foundation to the National Park system.

So enjoy the article.......... it's a fantastic insight to this great man. Someday, you will have to ask me how the bear stoled my suitcase (on the same trip) and carried it off into the forest in Sequoia National Park, but that's another story.

 A little Belated,  Happy Earth Day 2016,
jerry
ps. "The Conversation" is a fantastic website with incredible articles (many on the US) on all sorts of topics from an Australian point of view.

http://theconversation.com/how-john-muirs-incessant-study-saved-yosemite-56478?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20April%2021%202016%20-%204715&utm_content=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20April%2021%202016%20-%204715+CID_007e1a4483e82a5d1c53fd1485ef945f&utm_source=campaign_monitor_us&utm_term=How%20John%20Muirs%20incessant%20study%20saved%20Yosemite