John Muir died 100 years ago on Christmas Eve

No one has any comment about today being the 100 year anniversary of John Muir's death???

Heck of a backpacking community… consumed with gear obsessions and not a word about JM.

Without Muir we might not have many of the parks and backpacking opportunities we have today. Not to mention environmental movement.

And he was one of the first, if not THE first, ultra light backpacker.

Billy

I've always rooted for Gifford Pinchot : )

"And he was one of the first, if not THE first, ultra light backpacker."

Only because he was a mooch.

"Because he was a mooch"

How so? Heading into the mountains with a blanket and some flour seems pretty self sufficient to me.

That guy was the man. Its too bad there aren't more like him today.

Maybe people are busy doing things with Christmas? Just because others don't put a priority on something like you doesn't mean they are closed minded and gear obsessed.

If someone posted saying they were doing the JMT with an overcoat, a crust of bread, and a tea bag they would be quickly chastised, ad nauseam.

Muir is to be commended for all that he did in terms of wilderness preservation.

But a UL hiker, he was not.

Any good books to learn about Muir's life? I honestly know very little about him.

"No one has any comment about today being the 100 year anniversary of John Muir's death???"

Ummmm, okay, how about:

John! Muir! He's our man!
If he can't do it, Jardine can!

and on and on.

"Any good books to learn about Muir's life? I honestly know very little about him"

There are a bunch… just go to Amazon and search on his name. I'm traveling right now, so not in a position to answer fully.

billy

"And he was one of the first, if not THE first, ultra light backpacker."

Uh.., aren't you overlooking about 50,000 years of nomadic humans moving fast and light as they fanned out from Africa?

The FKT for hominids from Africa to Europe was at least 20,000 years. I guess it was unsupported, but even so I don't think that qualifies as fastpacking.

" I guess it was unsupported, but even so I don't think that qualifies as fastpacking."

Yeah, I think they were more into bushcraft, but so was Muir to some extent. He regularly chopped boughs off pine trees to make a bed to sleep on. It was a very different game in his day, never mind what the Neanderthals and Cro Magnons faced.

Their hunting parties had to be traveling pretty light, though.

books to read I would recommend John Muir the 8 wilderness discovery books starting with the story of my boyhood and youth, a thousand mile walk to the Gulf, my first summer in the Sierra, the Mountains of California, our national parks, the yosemite, travels in Alaska, steep trails. Sorry but this was voice typed so please forgive my lack of capital letters. Thank you Billy for bringing this to my/our attention. He was a strange yet good man and I for one am grateful that we have national parks and wilderness areas even with the imperfections that come with them. Man seems to screw up most everything we get our hands on or way with and the parks would have been much worse without John Muir in my opinion. Others would like golf courses and amusement parks major hotels and cities in our parks so this is only my opinion. I hope this thread can focus on the good that Muir did rather than his shortcomings, maybe for once the people who don't agree would just not comment or maybe just say Merry Christmas.

http://vault.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/default.aspx

I'm still struggling to understand some people's negative attitude towards Muir here. Would somebody care to elaborate on their position,instead of simply saying he was slow, not a UL hiker, mooch etc.?

More than 2-3 words is not a problem. I like to read.

"My First Summer In the Sierra" was interesting. The text is available online for free. Muir was driving sheep from the foothills up through where we now call Yosemite, all the way up to Dana Meadows near Tioga Pass. Of course this was long before there was any highway and probably when there were only animal trails. He described where the herd crossed Yosemite Creek.

I went there and surveyed the area with the text in hand, and I was able to find the right spot on the creek about 140 years after he was there.

–B.G.–

"I'm still struggling to understand some people's negative attitude towards Muir here"

just stupid humour?

how can anyone really have anything bad to say about him? Especially on a site where everyone talks about hiking the John Muir Trail in Yosemite. No one person is totally responsible for anything, but he contributed to preventing the Sierras from "being developed" not to mention wild places around the globe.

I enjoyed My First Summer in the Sierra.
Mountains of California is more on the technical side and likely of little interest if you're not a Californian, spend time in the Sierra, or are into geology.
The WIld Muir (Twenty-two of John Muir's Greatest Adventures) is probably the most fun read I know of on him; nothing but short stories about his childhood and later escapades in the hills. Climbing trees in storms, freezing himself without gear, scaling waterfalls….these are the stories I most hear relayed.