John Muir – “Father of the National Parks

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“The practical importance of the preservation of our forests is augmented by their relations to climate, soil and streams.” – John Muir

My blog today is about a man who every outdoorsman, or one who loves frequenting the National Parks, should know.  He was a naturalist, environmental philosopher, glaciologist and activist for the preservation of wilderness.  His name was John Muir.

John Muir was born in Dunbar, Scotland, on April 21, 1838 and died December 24, 1914.  He was also known as “John of the mountains” and “Father of the National Parks”.  He also founded the Sierra Club.  He was well known for his writing.  He published two articles about Wilderness Preservation in The Century Magazine that influenced the US Congress to establish Yosemite National Park in 1890.

“Only by going alone into silence, without baggage, can one truly get into the heart of the wilderness.  All other travel is mere dust and hotels and baggage and chatter.” – John Muir

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The Muir family left Scotland in 1849 headed for America.  They started a farm near Portage, Wisconsin.  The farm was known as Fountain Lake Farm and it has been designated a National Historic Landmark.  He enrolled in University of Wisconsin – Madison at the age of 22 and in 1864 moved to Canada until 1866.  Indianapolis was his new home and he went to work in a wagon wheel factory.

In September of 1867 Muir began a 1,000 mile walk that started in Kentucky and ended in Florida.  You can read about his journey in his book A Thousand – Mile Walk to the Gulf.

“Nature is ever at work building and pulling down, creating and destroying, keeping everything whirling and flowing, allowing no rest but in rhythmical motion, chasing everything in endless song out of one beautiful form into another.” – John Muir

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John was very active his whole life trying to save the wilderness and was at home in nature.  Some controversy followed him concerning some of his activism, but his love for the outdoors prevailed.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog.  Hope you enjoyed it.  Remember, spread the love.

“In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.” – John Muir

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28 thoughts on “John Muir – “Father of the National Parks”

  2. Beautiful and just in time for camping and hiking and taking in Nature this time of year. I grew up with both parents who loved the outdoors and did their best to teach us the value of Nature and keeping it as we saw it so the next person could enjoy as we did. I have visited Muir Woods. I read about Muir and the great he started to preserve our Natural World. To me, Missouri Conservationist, being in Scouts for decades, and visiting National Parks, all combined to make me a person who truly loves and respects our wildernesses. My soul loves being in Nature. Am always happy to read, see others’ tributes to our great Natural resources. Thank you.

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  4. Thanks for the post, John Muir has been a hero to me for a long time. he had quite a way with words as well. A deeper reverence, understanding and appreciation for nature is more and more needed in our culture

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  8. Our writings can be a reflection of who we truly are .Great to know more about you Wayne. Your love for life and living is beautifully presented. .
    And enjoyed finding Efi @efge63 here my lovely and gracious friend from Greece .
    Wishing us all a lot of bliss and bless of the moments.

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      • Sometimes we make the process more complicated than we need to.  We will never make a journey of a thousand miles by fretting about how long it will take or how hard it will be.  We make the journey by taking each day step by step and then repeating it again and again until we reach our destination.”– David B Wirthlin

        I just shared this quote a while ago, which I found inspiring from your blog to someone who really needed it today. Hope it helps her get some of the clarity that she was looking for.
        So thank you as well for sharing this Wayne…we are after all simply reflections of life and living .

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