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My First Summer in the Sierra

John Muir

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1. Page "THE WRITINGS OF JOHN MUIR", para. 1. THE WRITINGS OF JOHN MUIR Sierra Edition VOLUME II The Yosemite Falls, Yosemite Natio
2. Page "MY FIRST SUMMER IN THE SIERRA", para. 1. MY FIRST SUMMER IN THE SIERRA
3. Page "BY", para. 1. BY
4. Page "JOHN MUIR", para. 1. JOHN MUIR BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 1917 COPYRIGHT, 1911, BY JOHN
5. Page "THE SIERRA CLUB OF CALIFORNIA", para. 1. THE SIERRA CLUB OF CALIFORNIA FAITHFUL DEFENDER OF THE PEOPLE’S PLAYGROUNDS
6. Page "CONTENTS", para. 1. CONTENTS
7. Page "ILLUSTRATIONS", para. 1. ILLUSTRATIONS The total height of the three falls is 2600 feet. The upper fall is abo
8. Page "FROM SKETCHES MADE BY THE AUTHOR IN 1869", para. 1. FROM SKETCHES MADE BY THE AUTHOR IN 1869
9. Page "MY FIRST SUMMER IN THE SIERRA", para. 1. MY FIRST SUMMER IN THE SIERRA
10. Page "CHAPTER I", para. 1. CHAPTER I
11. Page 3. THROUGH THE FOOTHILLS WITH A FLOCK OF SHEEP In the great Central Valley of California
12. Page 3. Then the lolling, panting flocks and herds are driven to the high, cool, green pastur
13. Page 3. omings seemed insignificant to Mr. Delaney. The main thing, he said, was to have a ma
14. Page 6. June 3, 1869. This morning provisions, camp-kettles, blankets, plant-press, etc., wer
15. Page 7. The flock traveled at the rate of about a mile an hour, outspread in the form of an i
16. Page 8. Sheep in the Mountains About noon the heat was hard to bear; the poor sheep panted pi
17. Page 9. After a short noon rest in a grove, the poor dust-choked flock was again driven ahead
18. Page 10. Supper was announced by the call, “Grub!” Each with a tin plate helped himself direct
19. Page 11. June 4. The camp was astir at daybreak; coffee, bacon, and beans formed the breakfast
20. Page 13. June 5. This morning a few hours after setting out with the crawling sheep-cloud, we
21. Page 13. After gaining the open summit of this first bench, feeling the natural exhilaration d
22. Page 13. cks were far out of sight, made hurried notes and a sketch, though there was no need
23. Page 15. June 6. We are now on what may be called the second bench or plateau of the Range, af
24. Page 16. Through a meadow opening in the pine woods I see snowy peaks about the headwaters of
25. Page 17. During the afternoon we passed a fine meadow bounded by stately pines, mostly the arr
26. Page 18. We are now approaching the region of clouds and cool streams. Magnificent white cumul
27. Page 19. I have been examining the curious and influential shrub Adenostoma fasciculata, first
28. Page 20. Another conifer was met to-day,—incense cedar (Libocedrus decurrens), a large tree wi
29. Page 22. June 7. The sheep were sick last night, and many of them are still far from well, har
30. Page 23. As for the shepherd, his case is still worse, especially in winter when he lives alon
31. Page 24. The shepherd in Scotland seldom thinks of being anything but a shepherd. He has proba
32. Page 25. Before noon we passed Bower Cave, a delightful marble palace, not dark and dripping,
33. Page 26. Poison oak or poison ivy (Rhus diversiloba), both as a bush and a scrambler up trees
34. Page 27. Brown’s Flat is a shallow fertile valley on the top of the divide between the North F
35. Page 27. him in his lonely cabin and learned his stories, was simply to go slowly and silently
36. Page 29. “Whenever,” said the hunter, “I saw a bear before it saw me I had no trouble in killi
37. Page 30. Brown had left his mountain home ere we arrived, but a considerable number of Digger
38. Page 31. CHAPTER II
39. Page 32. IN CAMP ON THE NORTH FORK OF THE MERCED June 8. The sheep, now grassy and good-nature
40. Page 33. A handsome little shrub, Chamæbatia foliolosa, belonging to the rose family, spreads
41. Page 34. June 10. Very warm. We get water for the camp from a rock basin at the foot of a pict
42. Page 35. Heard a few peals of thunder from the upper Sierra, and saw firm white bossy cumuli r
43. Page 36. How fine the weather is! Nothing more celestial can I conceive. How gently the winds
44. Page 38. The mountain live oak, common here and a thousand feet or so higher, is like the live
45. Page 39. June 13. Another glorious Sierra day in which one seems to be dissolved and absorbed
46. Page 40. The smaller animals wander about as if in a tropical forest. I saw the entire flock o
47. Page 41. Lizards of every temper, style, and color dwell here, seemingly as happy and companio
48. Page 41. e; but Liz has shot away from his paws like an arrow, and is safe in the recesses of
49. Page 43. Mastodons and elephants used to live here no great geological time ago, as shown by t
50. Page 43. limb from limb, they will yet hold on and die biting deeper. When I contemplate this
51. Page 44. On my way to camp a few minutes ago, I passed a dead pine nearly ten feet in diameter
52. Page 44. lifetime. This wonderful electric species is about three fourths of an inch long. Bea
53. Page 47. June 14. The pool-basins below the falls and cascades hereabouts, formed by the heavy
54. Page 48. One of these ancient flood boulders stands firm in the middle of the stream channel,
55. Page 49. June 15. Another reviving morning. Down the long mountain-slopes the sunbeams pour, g
56. Page 50. SUGAR PINE Sugar pine cones are cylindrical, slightly tapered at the end and rounded
57. Page 50. eat height, the taper being almost imperceptibly gradual. Its companion, the yellow p
58. Page 53. June 16. One of the Indians from Brown’s Flat got right into the middle of the camp t
59. Page 54. How smooth and changeless seems the surface of the mountains about us! Scarce a track
60. Page 55. How different are most of those of the white man, especially on the lower gold region
61. Page 56. Sheep, like people, are ungovernable when hungry. Excepting my guarded lily gardens,
62. Page 58. The high ridges and hilltops beyond the woolly locusts are now gay with monardella, c
63. Page 59. June 19. Pure sunshine all day. How beautiful a rock is made by leaf shadows! Those o
64. Page 60. June 21. Sauntered along the river-bank to my lily gardens. The perfection of beauty
65. Page 61. June 24. Our regular allowance of clouds and thunder. Shepherd Billy is in a peck of
66. Page 61. his paws. Before morning, however, Jack was heard far up the height howling Excelsior
67. Page 64. June 26. Nuttall’s flowering dogwood makes a fine show when in bloom. The whole tree
68. Page 65. June 28. Warm, mellow summer. The glowing sunbeams make every nerve tingle. The new n
69. Page 65. June 29. I have been making the acquaintance of a very interesting little bird that f
70. Page 65. the air about the rapids and falls is beaten into music, and its first lessons must b
71. Page 68. DOUGLAS SQUIRREL OBSERVING BROTHER MAN I like to watch the squirrels. There are two s
72. Page 69. The California gray is one of the most beautiful, and, next to the Douglas, the most
73. Page 69. kill without noise. But, in spite of enemies, squirrels are happy fellows, forest fav
74. Page 71. The chaparral-covered hill-slope to the south of the camp, besides furnishing nesting
75. Page 71. reception he is likely to get. But no savage face will he see, perhaps not a single i
76. Page 73. Pearl cumuli over the higher mountains—clouds, not with a silver lining, but all silv
77. Page 74. CHAPTER III
78. Page 75. A BREAD FAMINE July 4. The air beyond the flock range, full of the essences of the wo
79. Page 76. July 6. Mr. Delaney has not arrived, and the bread famine is sore. We must eat mutton
80. Page 77. July 7. Rather weak and sickish this morning, and all about a piece of bread. Can sca
81. Page 79. Man seems to be the only animal whose food soils him, making necessary much washing a
82. Page 80. In the warm, hospitable Sierra, shepherds and mountain men in general, as far as I ha
83. Page 80. ss some special virtue of which he alone is master. Molasses, sugar, or pepper may be
84. Page 82. Sheep-camp bread, like most California camp bread, is baked in Dutch ovens, some of i
85. Page 83. At last Don Delaney comes doon the lang glen—hunger vanishes, we turn our eyes to the
86. Page 83. l the mighty host to do gladly their shining day’s work. The great sun-gold noons, th
87. Page 85. CHAPTER IV
88. Page 86. TO THE HIGH MOUNTAINS July 8. Now away we go toward the topmost mountains. Many still
89. Page 87. Toward sundown we reached Hazel Green, a charming spot on the summit of the dividing
90. Page 88. We have now reached a height of six thousand feet. In the forenoon we passed along a
91. Page 90. July 9. Exhilarated with the mountain air, I feel like shouting this morning with exc
92. Page 90. A Silver Fir, or Red Fir (Abies magnifica) Our course to-day was along the broad top
93. Page 92. The other species, Abies concolor, attains nearly as great a height and thickness as
94. Page 92. At Crane Flat we climbed a thousand feet or more in a distance of about two miles, th
95. Page 93. We passed a number of charming garden-like meadows lying on top of the divide or hang
96. Page 93. all of fire to fence such gardens. So extravagant is Nature with her choicest treasur
97. Page 96. July 10. A Douglas squirrel, peppery, pungent autocrat of the woods, is barking overh
98. Page 97. Our way is still along the Merced and Tuolumne divide, the streams on our right going
99. Page 98. Fortunately the sheep need little attention, as they are driven slowly and allowed to
100. Page 99. July 11. The Don has gone ahead on one of the pack animals to spy out the land to the