John Muir, the myth, the man, and the conservation legend.

Now, just who was John Muir? Well, let's put it this way. Without him, we might not have a Yosemite National Park. In fact, this area might have just been a small state park. Or worse, it could have been all private homes and farms. Can you imagine that? Now, you see, John was an environmental activist and writer in a time when economic progress defined America's relationship with the environment.

Simply put, money was more important than Mother Nature. But while everyone else wanted to use nature, John Muir wanted people to enjoy nature. He was so important to the preservation of our country's natural spaces, that today, he's known as the father of our national parks. But he had quite a journey to get there.

Now, John Muir was born in Dunbar, Scotland in 1838. When he was 11 years old, his family immigrated to a farm in Wisconsin. The thing is, his father wasn't all that interested in farming. And by all accounts, the man was a tyrant that made his family do all the work. I can just hear his father now. Aye, make the corn grow taller, ya wee lad.

So, as a kid, John spent a lot of time outside, either to work the fields or just to get away from his dad. It was during these times that John first learned to appreciate nature. He observed wildlife, took note of the plants surrounding the farm, and admired the rural landscape. Now, besides his love for nature, John also had a knack for inventions and machines.

He loved making clocks, and even invented an alarm clock that tipped the bed so you'd be forced to get up. Oh, I'm glad that one didn't catch on. He enrolled at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where he picked a random slate of courses. He was fascinated by geology and botany, but the rest of his education never really amounted to much.

Eventually, John dropped out of school and found work at a shop in Indianapolis that sold carriage parts. Anyway, he was torn between his love of nature and his love of machinery. But then, fate took matters into its own hands.

An industrial accident left John blinded. And for two weeks, a doctor restricted John to a dark, windowless room in the hope that he would regain his sight. It was, in more ways than one, John's darkest hour.

But seriously now, think about this for a minute. You've been fascinated by nature your whole life, and then, all of a sudden, everything goes black. Oh, it's gotta be pretty devastating. But luckily, a month later, his wounds healed, and his eyesight returned. That's when the young Scotsman said see you later to an industrial career and headed into the great outdoors.

And that's where he stayed. As beautiful as nature was before the accident, John found it ten times more astonishing after a month of living in the dark.

Being strapped for cash and sporting a great big bushy beard, John set off on a hike from Indiana to the Gulf of Mexico, a thousand miles away. Now he intended to travel all the way to the Amazon, but things came to a halt in Florida where the poor guy ran afoul of a mosquito and caught malaria. When he recovered, he changed his plans.

Next stop, San Francisco. Ha ha! No tropical diseases there, huh? John arrived in San Francisco by boat in March of 1868. Just four years earlier, President Lincoln had set aside Yosemite Valley as a protected area. So John, now 30 years old, wasted no time and walked from San Francisco to Yosemite Valley to see if it, you know, really lived up to the hype.

When he got there, John was transfixed. And from that moment on, California would be his forever home. And Yosemite would be a labor of love for the rest of his life. But John was no naturalist. Not yet. He was just a guy in awe of nature. With his jaw planted firmly on the ground in Yosemite Valley. 

When we left off. John Muir had just arrived in Yosemite Valley, and his jaw was flat on the ground.

Well, he picked it up and explored Yosemite for an entire week. But he fell so in love with Yosemite, he returned the following year just to work as a ranch hand. And after that, he landed a job as a shepherd. For 30 a month, he safeguarded over 2, 000 sheep in Tuolumne Meadows, north of the valley.

Well, before long, John realized that the sheep were destroying the meadows and a detriment to the environment. Hoofed locusts, that's what he called them.

John spent his free time studying the geology and botany of the area. He looked at the smooth granite rocks of the Sierra Nevada and thought, maybe Yosemite Valley had been shaped by glaciers. Now, this was a new and interesting idea. I guess when you're a bored shepherd, you, you know, you have a lot of time to look at, uh, well, at rocks.

Eventually, John got tired of shepherding. So, he found work in a sawmill in the valley. Now, it was about that time that John began focusing more on his writing. In 1871, he published an article in the New York Tribune outlining his theory that glaciers had actually carved Yosemite Valley. The pervading theory at the time was that the valley had been formed by some cataclysmic event, you know, like an earthquake. Scholars laughed at John's theory. Balderdash, they said. Poppycock! But eventually, his theory was proven true. Now, John often wrote about nature in a spiritual sense. You know, as a place of peace and healing. 

"No synonym for God is so perfect as beauty. Whether as seen carving the lines of the mountains with glaciers, or gathering matter into stars. Or planning the movements of water, or gardening. Still, all is beauty."

John's essays on nature quickly caught on with the public. As his popularity grew, John continued to write about Yosemite and protecting the environment. Celebrities and scientists, who were all interested in nature for one reason or another, sought out John's expertise. And this led him on a journey far beyond California to every continent on the planet, well, except Antarctica.

Now, he was no longer John Muir, the man with his jaw on the ground. No, sir. He was John Muir, the naturalist, conservationist and writer.

Meanwhile, Yosemite Valley was in rough shape. Suddenly, inns, private pastures, and other developments sprang up all over the landscape. And the surrounding high country was fragile and unprotected. If something wasn't done soon, Yosemite would be seriously and irreparably damaged. So, what did John do? Well, he struck up a friendship with the editor of Century Magazine, Robert Underwood Johnson.

Now, Robert appreciated John's articles. So, he agreed to go camping with John in Tuolumne Meadows. And there, John showed him just how the sheep were damaging the ecosystem. And together, they envisioned Yosemite as a national park, something as big and bold as Yellowstone, America's first national park. So, The men got to work.

Century Magazine published John's articles, which laid out all the reasons Yosemite needed federal protection. They urged passionate readers to write letters to their elected officials in Congress to "make their lives wretched until they do what is right by the woods."

Well, Congress didn't put up with that for very long. In fact, in 1890, they passed a bill that established Yosemite National Park. But there was just one problem. It seems Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove were not included in the bill. They were still under California's protection. And, of course, we've heard just how well that was going.

So, John Muir decided it was time to call in the cavalry.

Ladies and gentlemen! He makes outdoorsmen look like indoorsmen! He uses the word bully more than anyone else! He's the President of these United States! What's Teddy Roosevelt doing here in California? Oh my goodness, look at that mustache! You gotta get ready! Hey, Yosemite, it's time to meet... Teddy!

That's right, folks. And the adventures of John Muir and President Theodore Roosevelt will be right back after a short break.

The year was 1903. John Muir was 65 years old and still sportin that signature beard of his. Yosemite has been a national park for over a decade. But the valley itself and Mariposa Grove were in big trouble.

Trees were being logged. Fences were going up. Livestock was eating all the grass and things were not looking good. Then President Roosevelt wrote John Muir a letter saying he'd like the two of them to go camping. Now, John was a pretty famous guy at that point. He was a big deal in the growing environmental movement and was one of the founders of the Sierra Club, which is a non profit organization that promotes conservation.

But still, getting a letter from the president? To go camping?  Wow. Now my jaw is on the ground.

In May of 1903, president Roosevelt arrived in Wawona. Politicians from all over California, came to greet him at a big formal dinner, but that wasn't what Roosevelt had in mind. He was looking for a more rugged experience, a real adventure. So he ditched his secret service escort, and went into the woods with nobody but a couple of park rangers and Mr. John Muir. Can you imagine the president doing that today? Not gonna happen. On the first night, John and Teddy camped in Mariposa Grove. It was May in the mountains and still a little chilly. There, under the canopy of sequoia trees, Roosevelt slept on a pile of 40 wool blankets. 

The second night, they camped near Sentinel Dome. There was a snowstorm that night, and the boys woke up to five inches of snow. The president was elated. And he thought it was just a bee's knees. "Bully! Bully!" Now, in Roosevelt speak, that means good or wonderful or great. Anyway, their third night was spent in a meadow near Bridalveil Fall. down in Yosemite Valley. 

And it's there that John took advantage of his captive audience and showed Roosevelt the destructive forces at work in Yosemite Valley. Like the unchecked grazing, logging, and tourism. Surely, John pleaded, this place is worth protecting. And by that, he meant real protection. As in, federal protection.

You know, there's a famous picture of John Muir and President Roosevelt standing on the very edge of Glacier Point. Two manly men, the cowboy and the man of the forest, with the fate of Yosemite on their minds.

After their three night camping trip, John said goodbye to the president and just hoped that their time together would make a difference. Would the campfire conversations work? Would Roosevelt act to save Yosemite? Well, just three years later, in June of 1906, Roosevelt signed the Yosemite Recession Bill.

And this bill incorporated Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove into Yosemite National Park. But Teddy wasn't done yet. During his presidency, Roosevelt helped create five national parks, 18 national monuments, 55 national bird sanctuaries and wildlife refuges, and 150 national forests. Wow! Altogether, that's over 230 million acres of land, which is bigger than the entire state of Texas.

I'd say the camping trip really worked.

Now, Roosevelt was already a conservationist before he visited Yosemite, but the meeting with John Muir took things to the next level. Not to be too dramatic, but believe me, their time together communing with nature changed the course of American history. Although John Muir and President Roosevelt aren't the only ones responsible for the preservation of Yosemite, they did play a pivotal role.

After all, it's not just about getting something started. It's about continuing the legacy of those who came before us.

Now, John got what he wanted. The protection of the entire Yosemite area. So, that must be the end of the story, right? Whoa, whoa, whoa . Not so fast. You see, John Muir continued to support the creation of national parks, including a little something called the Grand Canyon. John even called Arizona "the Land of Enchantment." And he continued to have President Teddy Roosevelt's ear. Not bad. But sadly, like most warriors, John didn't win every fight. Soon after Roosevelt signed the bill protecting Yosemite, there was talk about building a dam in the park's Hetch Hetchy Valley to provide a water reservoir for San Francisco.

John and the Sierra Club opposed the dam with everything they had. After all, John believed the Hetch Hetchy Valley was every bit as beautiful as Yosemite Valley. However, in the end, the Tuolumne River was dammed, and the valley was flooded. Now, there is a lot more to the story, including some reasons why the dam was actually a good idea. 

Either way, It was a devastating loss for John and sadly, one of his last big fights. About a year after Congress authorized the dam's construction, John Muir passed away from pneumonia. It was Christmas Eve, 1914, and he was 76 years old.

Hey, you know, fate is a funny thing, isn't it? Imagine John Muir when he was young, back in the University of Wisconsin. Deciding whether he should start a career in industry or follow his heart towards nature. Imagine his name on a successful carriage business in Indianapolis instead of places like, well, the John Muir Trail, which stretches over 200 miles in the high Sierras.

Or, Muir Woods National Monument near San Francisco. It seems strange to be thankful that a man suffered an eye injury. But, just maybe, sitting there in the dark, blind, is where John really learned how to see. Because it was there, alone, in a pitch black room, that John Muir decided that what he missed more than anything was nature.

In the end, John Muir published over 300 articles and wrote 10 major books about travel and naturalism. At a time when it was common to look at nature purely as a way to make money, John's writing persuaded people to value nature for its beauty. His voice and his pen influenced the creation of several national parks, including Sequoia, Kings Canyon, Mount Rainier, and many others.

And the Sierra Club that he helped establish continues to advocate for the environment and outdoor recreation. National parks have been called America's best idea. And the country is forever indebted to John Muir, who is the father of our national parks. 

"I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out until sundown. For going out, I found was really going in."

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