Backpacking Heresy

“Hey folks. I just gotta know. I haven't been into this sport for very long, and haven't read much literature on the subject. I'll admit my ignorance. Now, I've heard some stories, and read quotes, but I still don't know. Who is/was John Muir?

*I'm sorry, don't hate me*”

“He invented Muirine, the stuff that takes the red out of your eyes after your campfire smoke gets in them.

Just kiddin' Oldie. Best bet is to go to a bookstore that has a good nature/outdoors section and peruse his writings.”

“you know how to use the web dontcha Oldie.

Pekka is basically right, as far as he goes. He used the fortune he gained from Muirine to sponsor some major trail making efforts, mostly in the West and made a large bequest to fund trail maintenance for years to come. That way he got a trail named after him.

But look it up on the web, there's probably something I left out.”

“LMAO sillyboyz! >;oP

Oldie, definitely DO look it up, dear. In summation, Muir was a naturalist who made great strides in passing the word of wilderness preservation, mostly through his writings. He's written several good books, including one about a dog "Stickeen."
His role as being founding father of the Sierra Club has been controversial, so I won't mention that here...I'll leave it for you to research more.
;o)”

“Thanks, Ms. G. I will look up some more info online. Maybe I'll look into some of his books this summer.”

“Careful Oldie, AmXenaG the Weekend Warrior Princess is tryin' ta pull a fast one on ya.”

“OK... honestly, he was the discoverer of Muiriatic acid... a form of LSD second in popularity onley oto Owsley's acid. People used to go on the John BIrch trail and drop acid, usually Muiriatic. "John Muir trail" has been a sort of unofficial countercultural term for the trail ever since.”

“I thought he invented the Soviet space station.”

“Isn't he the Russian fella that got lost in the Okeefenokee for 40 days?

Lived on bugs and swamp water, he did. Made 11 million rubles from the narrative he wrote about the experience. That equals about $23.00.

Later, the Ruskies named a space station after him.”

“A hiking GOD!! The ultimate minimalist/thrill seeker.
If ever in "The Valley" try to catch the one man show at the Vistors Center.”

“Thanks for the... umm... help. I guess I have some research to do.”

“Muir? Yea I used to party with those dudes.. too bad the band broke up. Man, they were awesome.”

“John Muir is another one of those mythical American heroes like Paul Bunyan or Mike Fink, and there's a whole bunch of tall tales about him. If anybody tells you about how he would go out for months at a time with nothing but biscuits and tea in his pockets, or how he spent a night on Whitney dancing to keep from freezing to death, or how he tied himself to the top of a tree in a storm so he could get a better vantage point...well, I was going to say don't believe a word of it, but now that I see it written down it's obvious no one would believe any of it anyway. ;-)”

“John Muir was WAYYY ahead of his time. He was probably the first true "conservationist" in many respects. Most notably, he convinced Teddy Roosevelt to push for our designated National Parks / National Forest System, without Muir we wouldn't have a lot of the space we do. He published a number of books, 8 of which are collected in his "Wilderness-Discovery" series. His last major battle was unfortunately lost... he wanted to preserve the Hetch Hetchy valley (very similar to the Yosemite Valley), but water rights for San Francisco won out, and it was flooded. A real shame. Yosemite is, to some extent, still available because of his efforts. He is often referred to as one of the founders of the Sierra Club (1892).
A pretty cool dude, all said.”

“Watch it Oldie, wanderer is trying to pull some revisionist mumbo jumbo on ya. My Classics Illustrated Comics version of Muir didn't say none of that. I think it said that when he was building Yosemite Valley with his bare hands one day, he got tired after awhile and didn't finish his last project, which is why today we still have Half Dome instead of just Dome. One of his mythical side kicks, Anthill Adams even took a picture during Muir's nap to prove he left the job undone.”

“John Muir wrote a book in 1973 called the Velvet Monkey Wrench. It's another utopia book.”

“ROTFLMAO,
you guys are terrible. Pick up a copy of his essays.”

“He could write? I thought he just took pictures.”

“Well yeah, he took pictures. But they made him give 'em back. Muir was just trying to keep Anthill Adams from showing everyone that shot of his moon over the valley. How embarrassing.

Let's not forget that John Wesley Powell was Colin Powell's great-great-granddad.”

“And coincidentally, John Wesley Harding was Warren Harding's dad.”

“John Muir was a motivational speaker. He convinced people who thought they "couldn't" that they "could." Who "wouldn't" that they "would."

In fact, there's a park here in California named after him, called "Muir WOULDS."

Also, he invented redwood trees.”

“Tommy, that's a common misconception, but it actually has nothing to do with John Muir. The area was named by then-Governor Ronald Reagan when he toured the area. "Mere woods', he called it, and went on to say: "you see one redwood, you seen 'em all." So when the Feds designated it a National Monument, naturally they called it Mere Woods.”

“LOL!”

“"Everytime I study some, isolated aspect
of nature, I find out it is connected to
everything else in the universe."

John Muir”

“Also responsible for founding Yosemite National Park/Circus.
Was a shepard from Scotland.
Didn't shave but had one hell of a way with words.
I'm the reincarnation of his third wife.

No...
Of COURSE he wasn't married three times.
I'm really the second reincarnation of his daughter, Wanda.
Or wazzit Helen?”

“This is the very reason I NEVER research anything on the web. LOL!”

“Thanks Mel, reincar...... what? Don't tell me you tried the brown pane!!! He was Scot's man. Believe he came here when he was around 8 yrs of age. He was a extraordinary man, that was out of place in his time. The original treehugger you might say!!!!”

“highcountry, didn't Muir issue that quote moments after stepping in something organic on a Yosemite trail?

Not to mention that Grand Canyon N.P. is just an attempt to cover the tracks of poor camping practices by Powell. The Corps of Engineers had told him it was okay to trench around his tents at night, that only minimal erosion would take place if there was rain. Talk about a lot of pointing fingers when his report reached Washington!”

“mel, Was that Helen Wheels or Wanda Gitsum?

If Muir was alive today he would be a target of ridicule by business and their right-wing apologists.
I suppose that WAS the case 100 years ago.

"The John Birch Trail".....now THAT'S funny!”