Susan M. Neider - Wild Yosemite: 25 Tales of Adventure, Nature, and Exploration

Yosemite

Sound! Sound! Sound!

O colossal walls and crownd

In one eternal thunder!

Sound! Sound! Sound!

O ye oceans overhead,

While we walk, subdued in wonder,

In the ferns and grasses, under

And beside the swift Merced!

Fret! Fret! Fret!

Streaming sounding banners, set

On the giant granite castles

In the clouds and in the snow!

But the foe he comes not yet,

We are loyal, valiant vassals,

And we touch the trailing tassles

Of the banners far below.

Surge! Surge! Surge!

From the white Sierras verge

To the very valley blossom.

Surge! Surge! Surge!

Yet the song bird builds a home,

And the mossy branches cross them,

And the tasseled tree tops toss them

In the clouds of falling foam.

Sweep! Sweep! Sweep!

O ye heaven born and deep,

In one dread unbroken chorus!

We may wonder or we may weep,

We may wait on God before us;

We may shout or lift a hand,

We may bow down and deplore us,

But we may never understand.

Beat! Beat! Beat!

We advance, but would retreat

From this restless, broken breast

Of the earth in a convulsion.

We would rest, but dare not rest,

For the angel of expulsion

From this Paradise below

Waves us onward and... we go.

Joaquin Miller

Copyright 2007 by Susan M. Neider

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication-Data

Wild Yosemite : personal accounts of adventure, discovery and nature / Susan M. Neider, editor.

p. cm.

ISBN-13: 978-1-60239-056-0 (hardcover : alk. paper)

ISBN-10: 1-60239-056-8 (hardcover : alk. paper)

1. Yosemite National Park (Calif.)Description and travelAnecdotes. 2. Sierra Nevada (Calif. and Nev.)Description and travelAnecdotes. 3. Yosemite National Park (Calif.)History19th centuryAnecdotes. 4. Yosemite National Park (Calif.)Discovery and explorationAnecdotes. 5. Natural historyCaliforniaYosemite National ParkAnecdotes. 6. Adventure and adventurersCaliforniaYosemite National ParkBiographyAnecdotes. 7. ExplorersCaliforniaYosemite National ParkBiographyAnecdotes. 8. TravelersCaliforniaYosemite National ParkBiographyAnecdotes. 9. Travelers writings.

I. Neider, Susan M.

F868.Y6W55 2007

979.447dc22

2006039597

Cover design by Liz Driesbach

Front cover illustration: Albert Bierstadt Domes of Yosemite, 1867/oil on canvas, 116 180 inches, Collection of St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, St. Johnsbury, VT. Used by permission.

Back cover photo: Theodore Roosevelt and John Muir at Glacier Point, courtesy of Library of Congress

All other illustrations 2007 by Susan M. Neider

Print ISBN: 978-1-63220-311-3

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-63220-786-9

Printed in the United States of America

Other books by Susan M. Neider

Color Country: Touring the Colorado Plateau , Winner of five international awards including EVVY First Place in Coffee Table Books and IPPY Second Place in Travel Books

High Country: Touring the Colorado Rockies

Golden Country: Touring Scenic California

Some Like It Hot! Yellowstones Favorite Geysers, Hot Springs, and Fumaroles

Classic Yellowstone: The Best of the Worlds First National Park

Table of Contents

Preface
Susan M. Neider

Introduction
Bruce Hamilton
Deputy Executive Director, Sierra Club

One
The Great Chasm of Yosemite
Frederick Law Olmsted

Two
The Sierra Nevada Range
Clarence King

Three
John Muir: An Appreciation
Theodore Roosevelt

Four
Yosemite Glaciers
John Muir

Five
How the Valley Was Formed
John Muir

Six
The Incomparable Valley
John Muir

Seven
Climbing Half Dome
John Muir

Eight
In the Heart of the Sierras
James Mason Hutchings

Nine
In CaliforniaThe Yosemite
Horace Greeley

Ten
Waterfalls and Rainbows
John Muir

Eleven
Around Yosemite Walls
Clarence King

Twelve
The Domes of the Yosemite
Mark Twain

Thirteen
The Trees of the Valley
John Muir

Fourteen
In Yosemite with John Muir
Theodore Roosevelt

Fifteen
The Giant Sequoia
John Muir

Sixteen
In CaliforniaThe Big Trees
Horace Greeley

Seventeen
Yosemite in Winter
John Muir

Eighteen
Riding an Avalanche
John Muir

Nineteen
Snow Banners
John Muir

Twenty
Caught in a Sierra Storm
Clarence King

Twenty - One
A Winter Earthquake
John Muir

Twenty - Two
The Flowers
John Muir

Twenty - Three
The Birds
John Muir

Twenty - Four
A Close Call on the Obelisk
Clarence King

Twenty - Five
How Best to Spend Ones Yosemite Time
John Muir

Preface

The magnificent granite mountains of the Sierra Nevada impose a formidable presence of supreme elevation and length, extending for more than 400 miles along Californias eastern flank. These are exuberant mountains full of wild energy, vigorous and youthful, probably less than ten million years old. The southern third of the range is the highest and most rugged, where eleven of the fifteen California peaks above 14,000 feet rise in a single dominant crest known as the High Sierra. The eastern edge of the range ends in a dramatic escarpment descending to the barren salt flats of Death Valley, 282 feet below sea level. The long and gradual western slopes are heavily forested, with occasional lava spews and rocky protrusions through the thin soil, a scene of gray-browns and greens.

Centuries ago, on these gentler slopes, mans gradual ascent to the High Sierra began. Trails and roads emerged, snaking and winding through hairpins and switchbacks, under sheer granite cliffs with peeling walls, light gray and stark. Loggers eyed the immense conifers, tall straight shooters with textured bark in a range of rich browns. Dappled light streamed through dense, mature forests and groves of giant sequoia. The air was dusty with glaciated granite, ground from massive domes into glacial flour, a reminder of the power of moving ice that a million years ago carved into this wild backcountry a charismatic central valley called Yosemite, beneath vast subalpine meadows in the heart of the High Sierra, under luminous skies and pitch nights.

With the California Gold Rush of 1849, word spread quickly of Yosemites staggering beauty, attracting fortune hunters and travelers around the globe. Writers, artists, and photographers were awed by the Incomparable Valley. Settlements, mining camps, hotels, and tourism exploded and the great trees were felled by the thousands. Finally on October 1, 1890, Congress created Yosemite National Park, answering the urgent cry of conservationist John Muir to protect this magnificent land from misuse, carelessness, and greed.