My First Summer In The Sierra By John Muir Essay

John Muir’s view of the sierras was filled with the high, cool, and green pastures of the peaking mountains, with forest belts that show the melting snow, and with shining streams to be crossed. The foothills show bushes, trees (usually oak trees), and slate. There were Sabine pines that peak from the southwest side, along small fields and vineyards that were marked by falls and streams. The Horseshoe bend was really glorious. As pictured, Horseshoe Bend came full in sight—a glorious wilderness that seemed to be calling with a thousand songful voices. Bold, down-seeping slopes, feathered with pines and clumps of Manzanita with sunny, open spaces between them, make up most of the foreground; the middle and background present fold beyond fold of finely modeled hills and ridges rising into maintain-like masses in the divine landscape-countenance are so burned into mind and heart they surely can never grow dim. This type of view had a great impact on the flock of sheep, as it enjoyed plenty of green grass. This is shown in the following lines: â€Å"The sheep, now grassy and good-natured, slowly nibbled their way down into the valley of the North Fork. † The surrounding beauty did not only have strong impact on the flock but, most of all, to Muir: How deep our sleep last night in the mountain’s heart, beneath the trees and stars, hushed by solemn-sounding waterfalls and many small soothing voices in sweet accord whispering peace! And our first pure mountain day, warm, calm, cloudless, –how immeasurable it seems, how serenely wild! (Muir 1998, 32) For Muir, the appeal of the mountains seemed to converge down to his very soul†¦ leaving him moments of glory that touched his mind and heart for the majestic scene of nature. Later in life, Muir protected the Hetch-Hetchy Valley in a seven-year environmental struggle that centered on gaining water rights on the said valley. Muir correctly predicted that the building of a dam would be unsightly to have a lake around the perimeter; yet his struggle ended up to be a breakdown, with the signing of the Raker Act in 1913. BIBLIOGRAPHY â€Å"Hetch Hetchy Valley. † Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia (2008). Database on-line. Muir, John. My First Summer in the Sierra. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Books, 1998.