John Muir: Baddass of the High Sierra

By Mike Marino

Hollywood's history of cinematic badasses, on and off screen include Bad Boy Hall of Famer's Erroll "In Like Flynn" Flynn; Bogie, from his onscreen persona as Sam Spade to his real life role as founding father of the Rat Pack in Hollywood; big bad Bob Mitchum who just as soon lay you out with a punch as giving stunning performances. Then, the wild one himself, Marlon Brando, the self-made man of machismo and bravado who flipped off Hollywood becoming legend in the process.

Hollywood isn't the only place where bad boys reign supreme. The world of conservation, has bad boys who bear scrutiny such as Teddy Roosevelt, the roughest riding Bullmoose of them all, brandishing his big stick. One name, not thought of in this context is the biggest badass of them all. John Muir. He let his voice be heard, loud and strong, plaid and proud, and don't you dare get his Scot dander up. He is known today as the "Father of the National Park Service" and co-founder of the Sierra Club, but he's also the one who leveraged his infectious love of nature to influence Teddy of the Big Stick to protect what today is Yosemite Valley and the Grand Canyon, among others.

Muir was born a bonnie Scot in 1838, immigrating to the United States with family at age 11, to the land we know as the realm of cheeseheads and the mighty Green Bay Packers...Wisconsin. Farming was the way for immigrants to strike it rich, and to provide a living for their families. Young Muir spent those formative farming years in bending Mother Nature's forests and natural ways into the the unnatural transformation that would deplete the soils, as forests and praries morphed into nutrient sucking farmland. In fact, all this negative agri-practice probably was responsible for his curiosity regarding the mechanics of the natural world, and it's population of all living things. He was also an youthful inveterate inventor developing highly sensitive thermometers and most curiously, an alarm clock that when it set itself off would tip his bed and dump him on the floor...in typical understated Muir fashion, he referred to it as the "early rising machine."

The internal mechanical esoteric erotica created by the creation of these machines, and a father that looked above all as though a massive midwestern storm cloud, made Muir take flight to the university at Madison, Wisconsin. He was admitted to the boola boola ivy halls of academia, having spent only a few months in school after the age of 11. His studies were heavy on Natural Science, but he headed north during the Civil War in 1863 making Muir one of the first "draft dodgers" as he made his way to maple leaf infested Canada.

At war's end, Muir returned, but in1867 an accident changed his life. He was adjusting some machinery with a file when his hand slipped and a point of the file pierced one eye, blinding it. The other went dark in sympathy. He was not amused.

As his sight returned, John decided to spend his life drowning in the sights of the forests, fields, lakes and mountains, and the glory of unspoiled nature. His first wild trek was a thousand mile walk from Louisville, Kentucky to Savannah, Georgia, and eventually ending up in San Francisco in 1868. He aksed about the nearest way out of town, and quote ‘To any place that is wild."

John ended up in Yosemite, working as a shepherd and running a sawmill near Yosemite Falls. In 1880, Cupid struck and Muir married and moved to Martinez, California, 35 miles from San Francisco where Muirs wifes family lived. Here he applied his love of plants by raising Bartlett pears and Tokay grapes. He became fairly wealthy, but missed the "wild life" of the wilderness. Each trip to the mountains presented him with proof that, unless something were done, the wilderness he had found earlier would be only a memory for future generations. It was this attitude that inspired President Teddy Roosevelt's conservation programs, including establishing the first National Monuments and Yosemite National Park. In 1892, John Muir and others formed the Sierra Club with Muir as the Club's first president, an office he held until his death in 1914 where he died of pnueumonia.

John Muir's burial site is in a quiet, tree-shaded spot near the banks of Alhambra Creek. In the spring, the sounds of the flowing water fill the air. This historic gravesite lies approximately one mile south of the Muir homestead, and is privately owned. John Muir was buried here beside his wife, on Sunday, December 27, 1914. The Muir Site preserves the Victorian residence and a part of the fruit ranch where visitors can tour the home, and stroll the orchards. The newly-added Mount Wanda area, where Muir used to take frequent walks with his daughters, includes the John Muir Nature Trail, featuring wild flowers, bird life, and scenic vistas of the Carquinez straits.

As a side note when I was living in San Francisco, two of my favorite hideaways to get away from the city on occassion was the Muir Home and in Marin County, the fantastic made for Birkenstocks and hiking sticks Mir Woods. In 1908. President Theodore Roosevelt established Muir Woods National Monument. William and Elizabeth Kent had donated the woods to save the trees, and asked that it be named after John Muir. Upon learning of its dedication, Mr. Muir declared, "This is the best tree-lovers monument that could possibly be found in all the forests of the world." Muir Woods is located 11 miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge. Muir Woods National Monument contains 6 miles of trails. There is a 1/2 hour loop, a 1 hour loop, and a 1 1/2 hour loop as well as longer hikes on trails that extend into surrounding parks. All of these walks afford views of thousands of old-growth coast redwoods, the tallest living things in the world. If you look carefully you can escape the crowds at the wood by hiking up Boot Jack Trail..it winds up the hill, with a small creek running along side of it and when you emerge at the top of the trail you end up on the road to Mt. Tamalpais and the, to borrow from John Muir...The Glorious Wonders of Nature laid out below you including the city of San Francisco!"