Other editions of book My first summer in the Sierra, By John Muir with illustrations By: Herbert W.

It was June of 1869 when John Muir reluctantly accepted a job herding sheep from the central valley of California to the headwaters of the Merced and Tuolumne Rivers, high into the Sierra Nevadas and deep into the Yosemite region. He felt ill-equipped for the work, and yet the opportunity thrilled his adventurous spirit. With a notebook tied to his belt, he set out for a summer he would never forget. My First Summer in the Sierra is Muir's classic account of that extraordinary journey. It was not published until 1911, by which time he had become well known for his work as a naturalist and conservationist. One hundred years later, we can still experience Muir's transcendent joy, as he climbed the mountains, explored the lakes and streams, and studied the region's flowers and trees. His words have since beckoned countless travelers to Yosemite National Park.

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Following the American Civil War, John Muir joined a group of shepherds to herd 2,500 sheep into the breathtaking landscape of Yosemite in the Sierra Mountains - this is their story. Having previously worked in a sawmill and as a wagon wheel maker, by 1869 John Muir was already a man of impressive skill and hands-on know-how. After a machine tool inflicted him with temporary blindness he was given a new lease on life: he resolved to explore and catalog North America's wildernesses, to behold and appreciate the immense beauty of the natural world. Following his famous thousand mile walk from Kentucky to Florida, Muir's natural inclination for adventure led him westward. After a time in California, he felt the urge to explore Yosemite; a place already renowned for its stunning vistas and awe-inspiring topography. Hearing of employment opportunities in shepherding, Muir soon embarked on a journey with a large sheep flock as part of a team of herders. Much of this book chronicles the amazing natural beauty of the Yosemite area: the huge sequoia forests; the towering cliffs; thundering waterfalls; striking views; the brisk, fresh air and cool climate. Muir gained more than mere joy from beholding the glory of the Sierras: he would later become an active preservationist, campaigning for more ground to be protected permanently from resource or other exploitation. Muir's recording of his journey did much to raise public awareness of the area's natural beauty. Over the forthcoming decades, Yosemite was explored and admired by millions. In 1890, it was given National Park status and designated as a protected wilderness - by 1903, an elderly John Muir convinced fellow outdoorsman President Theodore Roosevelt to assign control of Yosemite to the federal government.

2019 Reprint of 1911 Edition. Illustrated Edition, complete with drawings by the Author and photographs by Herbert W. Gleason. In the summer of 1869, John Muir, a young Scottish immigrant, joined a crew of shepherds in the foothills of California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains. The diary he kept while tending sheep formed the heart of this book and was later published in 1911 in book form. My First Summer in the Sierra was written in the solitude of the great forests, on the summits of the lonely domes and peaks of the Sierra Mountains. The beauty and freshness of the mountains is wonderfully reflected in this book, which seems to hold within its pages all the brightness and sunny geniality of a Sierra morning warming towards noon. Aside from the enthusiasm for the new world opening before him, which is perhaps the dominant note of the book, one is struck chiefly by Mr. Muir's strong sense of the harmony and unity of Nature. This sensitive rendering of the natural landscape, occasionally poetic, has become a classic account in the ecological history of the United States.

This antiquarian volume contains John Muir’s 1911 travel book, "My First Summer in the Sierra". After the American Civil War, John Muir assembled a group of shepherds to drive a large flock of sheep to Yosemite National Park. In 1911 he published this account of the experience, which would encourage many people to visit the Yosemite region and become a seminal piece of environmentalist literature. The contents include: “Through the Foothills with a Flock of Sheep”, “In Camp on the North Fork of the Merced”, “A Bread Famine”, “To the High Mountains”, “The Yosemite”, “Mount Hoffman and Lake Tenaya”, “A Strange Experience”, “The Mono Trail”, etcetera. John Muir (1838 - 1914), was a Scottish-American writer, naturalist, and pioneering advocate of American wilderness preservation. We are republishing this book now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition - complete with a specially commissioned new biography of the author.

My First Summer in the Sierra is a classic nature/outdoor adventure classic by the great American naturalist, John Muir and a fine example of John Muir nature writings. In My First Summer in the Sierra, John Muir states that in the great Central Valley of California there are only two seasons--spring and summer. The spring begins with the first rainstorm, which usually falls in November. In a few months the wonderful flowery vegetation is in full bloom, and by the end of May it is dead and dry and crisp, as if every plant had been roasted in an oven.John Muir (April 21, 1838 – December 24, 1914) also known as "John of the Mountains" and "Father of the National Parks", was an influential Scottish-American:42 naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, glaciologist and early advocate for the preservation of wilderness in the United States. His letters, essays, and books describing his adventures in nature, especially in the Sierra Nevada, have been read by millions. His activism has helped to preserve the Yosemite Valley, Sequoia National Park and many other wilderness areas. The Sierra Club, which he co-founded, is a prominent American conservation organization. The 211-mile (340 km) John Muir Trail, a hiking trail in the Sierra Nevada, was named in his honor. Other such places include Muir Woods National Monument, Muir Beach, John Muir College, Mount Muir, Camp Muir, Muir Grove, and Muir Glacier. In Scotland, the John Muir Way, a 130-mile-long route, was named in honor of him.In his later life, Muir devoted most of his time to the preservation of the Western forests. As part of the campaign to make Yosemite a national park, Muir published two landmark articles on wilderness preservation in The Century Magazine, "The Treasures of the Yosemite" and "Features of the Proposed Yosemite National Park"; this helped support the push for U.S. Congress to pass a bill in 1890 establishing Yosemite National Park.[7] The spiritual quality and enthusiasm toward nature expressed in his writings has inspired readers, including presidents and congressmen, to take action to help preserve large nature areas.John Muir has been considered "an inspiration to both Scots and Americans". Muir's biographer, Steven J. Holmes, believes that Muir has become "one of the patron saints of twentieth-century American environmental activity," both political and recreational. As a result, his writings are commonly discussed in books and journals, and he is often quoted by nature photographers such as Ansel Adams. "Muir has profoundly shaped the very categories through which Americans understand and envision their relationships with the natural world," writes Holmes. Muir was noted for being an ecological thinker, political spokesman, and religious prophet, whose writings became a personal guide into nature for countless individuals, making his name "almost ubiquitous" in the modern environmental consciousness. According to author William Anderson, Muir exemplified "the archetype of our oneness with the earth".

Hebert W. Gleason Photographs (The Writings of Henry David Thoreau 1906) On Herbert Wendell Gleason's (1855-1937) photographs accompanying The Writings of Henry David Thoreau (Houghton Mifflin, 1906): Mr. Gleason has made a careful study of all Thoreau's writings, including the manuscript Journal, and has explored with equal thoroughness the woods and fields of Concord, visiting the localities mentioned in the Journal and getting photographs, not only of the places themselves, but also of many of the fleeting phenomena of the natural year in the very spots where Thoreau observed them. He has even succeeded in identifying a number of localities described and named by Thoreau which had previously been unknown to any person now living in Concord. he has also followed Thoreau in his wider wanderings, and his portfolio includes views of Cape Cod, the Maine woods, and the banks of the Merrimack River. It will be apparent that Mr. Gleason's pictures are in the fullest sense illustrations of the text which they accompany.............. John Muir ( April 21, 1838 – December 24, 1914) also known as "John of the Mountains", was a Scottish-American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, glaciologist and early advocate for the preservation of wilderness in the United States. His letters, essays, and books describing his adventures in nature, especially in the Sierra Nevada, have been read by millions. His activism has helped to preserve the Yosemite Valley, Sequoia National Park and many other wilderness areas. The Sierra Club, which he co-founded, is a prominent American conservation organization. The 211-mile (340 km) John Muir Trail, a hiking trail in the Sierra Nevada, was named in his honor. Other such places include Muir Woods National Monument, Muir Beach, John Muir College, Mount Muir, Camp Muir, Muir Grove, and Muir Glacier. In Scotland, the John Muir Way, a 130-mile-long route, was named in honor of him. In his later life, Muir devoted most of his time to the preservation of the Western forests. As part of the campaign to make Yosemite a national park, Muir published two landmark articles on wilderness preservation in The Century Magazine, "The Treasures of the Yosemite" and "Features of the Proposed Yosemite National Park"; this helped support the push for U.S. Congress to pass a bill in 1890 establishing Yosemite National Park. The spiritual quality and enthusiasm toward nature expressed in his writings has inspired readers, including presidents and congressmen, to take action to help preserve large nature areas.Today Muir is referred to as the "Father of the National Parks" and the National Park Service has produced a short documentary about his life. John Muir has been considered "an inspiration to both Scots and Americans". Muir's biographer, Steven J. Holmes, believes that Muir has become "one of the patron saints of twentieth-century American environmental activity," both political and recreational. As a result, his writings are commonly discussed in books and journals, and he is often quoted by nature photographers such as Ansel Adams. "Muir has profoundly shaped the very categories through which Americans understand and envision their relationships with the natural world," writes Holmes. Muir was noted for being an ecological thinker, political spokesman, and religious prophet, whose writings became a personal guide into nature for countless individuals, making his name "almost ubiquitous" in the modern environmental consciousness. According to author William Anderson, Muir exemplified "the archetype of our oneness with the earth", while biographer Donald Worster says he believed his mission was "...saving the American soul from total surrender to materialism." On April 21, 2013, the first ever John Muir Day was celebrated in Scotland, which marked the 175th anniversary of his birth, paying homage to the conservationist.....................

In the summer of 1869, John Muir, a young Scottish immigrant, joined a crew of shepherds in the foothills of California's Sierra Nevada Mountains. The diary he kept while tending sheep formed the heart of this book, which was first published in 1911 and which eventually lured thousands of Americans to visit Yosemite country. My First Summer in the Sierra incorporates the lyrical accounts and sketches Muir produced during his four-month stay in the Yosemite River Valley and the High Sierra. His daily records track his memorable experiences, describing in picturesque terms the majestic vistas, flora and fauna, and other breathtaking natural wonders of the area. Today, Muir is recognized as one of the most important and influential naturalists and nature writers in America. This book, the most popular of the author's works, will delight environmentalists and nature lovers with its exuberant observations.

This vivid travelogue conveys John Muir's life-changing adventure in the Sierra Nevada. Penniless but itching to travel, Muir took a job relocating Pat Delaney's sheep from California's Central Valley to the Yosemite region. When he set out in the summer of 1869, Muir, whose closest previous experience was walking a thousand miles from Indiana to Florida, wasn't sure that "the silly sheep" would make it through the wilds of the mountains. He was reassured that the accompanying shepherd would do the actual herding, and that he'd be left to study nature. Silver firs, waterfalls, fertile valleys, and snowcapped peaks bejeweled the landscape, imbuing Muir with a profound reverence for the natural world. His passionate journal entries detail the beautiful surroundings Muir encountered and the colorful characters he met along the way. They furthermore explain his transformation from an industrial engineer to a pioneer of the environmental movement. My First Summer in the Sierra has become a classic that has inspired many to follow in Muir's footsteps.

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