Excerpt: BOFAW, chap, 9, “Gratefulness.
Before each trip, I would say that I could not predict what they would experience.
I could predict, however, that they would experience things
that would be impossible to imagine from the comfort of their beds
with their electric blankets turned on.
John Muir was a huge fan of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson was a celebrated American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement. Muir admired his essays on the relationship of nature, soul and self-reliance. By writing, “The whole of nature is a metaphor of the human mind,” Emerson was unifying man—creation—Creator. Also, like Muir and Thoreau, he emphasized the importance of being “reborn” in nature.
Emerson visited Muir at Yosemite in the spring of 1871. Muir was beside himself with excitement and later describing his arrival wrote:
I proposed an immeasurable camping trip back into the heart of the mountains. He seemed anxious to go, but considerately mentioned his party. I said: ‘Never mind. The mountains are calling; run away, and let plans and parties and dragging lowland duties ‘gang tapsal terrie.’ We’ll go up a canyon singing your own song, “Good-by, proud world! I’m going home,” in divine earnest.’ Up there lies a new heaven and a new earth; let us go to the show. But alas, it was too late—too near the sundown of his life. The shadows were growing long, and he leaned on his friends. His party, full of indoor philosophy, failed to see the natural beauty and fullness of promise of my wild plan, and laughed at it in good-natured ignorance, as if it were necessarily amusing to imagine that Boston people might be led to accept Sierra manifestations of God at the price of rough camping. Anyhow, they would have none of it, and held Mr. Emerson to the hotels and trail
.
Muir accompanied Emerson’s entourage to the Mariposa Grove of Sequoias, where he made one final attempt to get the Boston Bard to sleep one night beneath the giant trees. His pleas were ignored and the group mounted their horses to begin their journey back to Boston. As he reached a rise in the road, Emerson reined in his horse, turned around and waved his hat in good-by to his mountain-man friend.
Muir would reflect later:
I felt lonely, so sure that Emerson, of all men, would be the quickest to see the mountains and sing them.
It is considered boorish to reveal a lady’s age, however, in this case, I think it is appropriate to mention that Emerson was four years younger than Jane Berg when he declined to sleep, even one night, in Muir’s company, under the protection of the giant Sequoias.
Jane was one of the earliest fans of BOFAWFb and it quickly became clear that we shared a love for Yosemite, John Muir, and all of nature. Even so, I was a bit surprised (shocked actually) (;o) when she mentioned that she was going to leave the comfort of her Vashon Island home and gardens in April, 2013 to camp at Grand Canyon NP. She spent 9 amazing days camped on the South Rim. The trip included a mule ride, down Bright Angel Trail, overnight at Phantom Ranch, and ride up the South Kaibab Trail which offers some of the most stunning views of Grand Canyon.
She has described it as one of her greatest experiences, however, it happened to be just a warm-up for an even longer adventure. In the fall, she left Vashon again and traveled to Yosemite NP and volunteered with “Yosemite Conservancy,” assisting visitors in various locations. This required her to camp five weeks in a small tent. Actually, the trip turned out to be 49 days, and included a week in the Eastern Sierras of Mono County.
Of the three great naturalists, Emerson, Thoreau and Muir, Muir was the wildest and his passion inspired the National Park movement which has spread globally. Jane responded to his call, “Come to the mountains and get their glad tidings.” What she did was really quite remarkable. She left her comfortable nest on Vashon Island and made two challenging journeys to two glorious National Parks. In so doing, she saw visions, marvels and wonders that Emerson could not have imagined. When I asked for permission to share her stories she said that she felt honored and hoped that others would be inspired to try their own new adventures. Furthermore, she said that her experiences made her feel younger and she is filled with so many memories of the beautiful places that she hiked and explored. Whether she was hiking in Yosemite high country or the Eastern Sierras she felt an abiding presence of the spirit of John Muir.
She wrote:
“I found it amazing and wonderful to wake up close to the earth and profoundly beautiful wilderness. In addition to thinking of John Muir, and native peoples, I also thought of the Biodesign students and how important I feel it is to have children, and adults, experience nature.”
On our last trip to Grand Canyon, a married couple (both 85 years young) hiked up from Phantom Ranch to The South Rim. The first time they made the round-trip hike was to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary, and they had done it annually ever since then. Park rangers were on hand to welcome them back to the top and celebrate their wonderful accomplishment. Based on this, Jane has at least 13 more years of hiking to look forward to. The last time I talked to her she sounded like a teenager, eager to go “out for a walk” and see more of Mother Nature’s treasures.
Way to go Jane!