John Muir – Woodsman

Woodsman of Yosemite

John Muir, the woodsman, became well-known as realizing the importance of forests and woods. The forests of Yosemite was Muir’s church. In the few years he lived in the Yosemite area, he became an expert. His book, Our National Parks, Muir gives a very detailed description of the trees of the forest. There is a sense of awe and reverence as he tells the story of the forest. The reader is spellbound by Muir’s words as the chapter begins:

The coniferous forests of the Yosemite Park, and of the Sierra in general, surpass all others of their kind in America or indeed in the world, not only in the size and beauty of the trees, but in the number of species assembled together, and the grandeur of the mountains they are growing on.

Our National Parks, Chapter Four, The Forests of Yosemite

In his writing, Muir elaborates on the different species, considering the size, age, and colors of the forest trees. Mostly, he concentrates on coniferous. Deciduous trees are not entirely left out of his findings. He does make a comment about deciduous trees by calling them ’round-headed.’ Whether or not Muir meant to make a whimsical comment, the reader has been given an opportunity to smile as he carries on into the recitation of the trees. With his passion about the woods and the forests, John Muir is the ultimate woodsman.

The quotes seen below of woods and forests have been excerpted from John Muir’s writings. It is important to see the context of the original writing to allow the reader a better idea of Muir’s intent.

Woods + Forests Quotes

Come to the woods, for here is rest. There is no repose like that of the green deep woods. Here grow the wallflower and the violet. The squirrel will come and sit upon your knee, the logcock will wake you in the morning. Sleep in forgetfulness of all ill. Of all the upness accessible to mortals, there is no upness comparable to the mountains. John of the Mountains: The Unpublished Journals of John Muir, (1938), page 235.

Between every two pine trees there is a door leading to a new way of life. Muir’s marginal note in volume I of Prose Works by Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Only by going alone in 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. Letter to wife Louie, July 1888, Life and Letters of John Muir (1924), chapter 15.

Lie down among the pines for a while, then get to plain pure white love-work … to help humanity and other mortals and the Lord. Letter from John Muir to Mrs. J.D. (Katharine) Hooker, 19 September 1911, from Para, Brazil, as quoted in The Life and Letters of John Muir (1924) chapter 17, IIand in John Muir’s Last Journey (2001) page 67.

When one is alone at night in the depths of these woods, the stillness is at once awful and sublime. Every leaf seems to speak. John of the Mountains: The Unpublished Journals of John Muir, (1938), page 295 (quoted in The Wilderness World of John Muir, edited by Edwin Way Teale, p. 313.)

All the wild world is beautiful, and it matters but little where we go, to highlands or lowlands, woods or plains, on the sea or land or down among the crystals of waves or high in a balloon in the sky; through all the climates, hot or cold, storms and calms, everywhere and always we are in God’s eternal beauty and love. So universally true is this, the spot where we chance to be always seems the best. John of the Mountains: The Unpublished Journals of John Muir, (1938) page 299.

Going to the woods is going home; for I suppose we came from the woods originally. But in some of nature’s forests the adventurous traveler seems a feeble, unwelcome creature; wild beasts and the weather trying to kill him, the rank, tangled vegetation, armed with spears and stinging needles, barring his way and making life a hard struggle. Here everything is hospitable and kind, as if planned for your pleasure, ministering to every want of body and soul. Our National Parks, Chapter 4, The Forests of Yosemite