The Writings of John Muir

CM LO 10 GIFT OF 57 THE WRITINGS OF JOHN MUIR .Manuscript bitton VOLUME V THE MOUNTAINS OF CALIFOENIA ii BY JOHN MUIR BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY MDCCCCXVI COPYRIGHT, 1894, 1911, AND 1912, BY THE CENTURY CO. COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY ALL RIGHTS RESERVED EDITION LIMITED TO SEVEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY COPIES THIS IS NUMBER CONTENTS THE MOUNTAINS OF CALIFORNIA XII. SIERRA THUNDERSTORMS 3 XIII. THE WATER-OUZEL 9 XIV. THE WILD SHEEP 34 XV. IN THE SIERRA FOOTHILLS 60 XVI. THE BEE PASTURES 76 THE YOSEMITE I. THE APPROACH TO THE VALLEY . .125 II. WINTER STORMS AND SPRING FLOODS . .175 III. (V) THE TREES OF THE VALLEY . .185 IV. (X). THE SOUTH DOME 191 V. (XI). THE ANCIENT YOSEMITE GLACIERS: How THE VALLEY WAS FORMED . 198 VI. (XII). HOW BEST TO SPEND ONE S YOSEM- ITE TIME 222 VII. (XIII). LAMON 266 VIII. (XIV). GALEN CLARK 269 IX. (XV). HETCH HETCHY VALLEY . .278 INDEX 293 NOTE: The chapter-numbers in parentheses are those of the first edition. 355339 ILLUSTRATIONS EL CAPITAN, YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK Frontispiece 11 It is 3300 feet high, a plain, severely simple, glacier-sculptured face of granite, the end of one of the most compact and enduring of the moun tain ridges, unrivaled in height and breadth and flawless strength." From a photograph by Charles S. Olcott A WATER-OUZEL AND NEST 24 This ouzel and its nest were found on a rock in King s River Canon, only a few feet above the stream. From a photograph by Herbert W. Gleason MIRROR LAKE 138 Mount Watkins is seen in the distance. From a photograph by Charles S. Olcott FAIRVIEW DOME 204 A view from the north, showing the striking out " line of the Dome, with a number of glacial er ratics" on the rocky pavement in the foreground. The crown of the dome is 10,000 feet above the sea-level. From a photograph by Herbert W. Gleason SENTINEL ROCK, YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK . 222 A telling monument of the glacial period, rising 3100 feet from the floor of the valley. The photograph was taken during a typical Yosemite shower and shows the curious appearance of rain below the cloud while the atmosphere above is clear. From a photograph by Charles S. Olcott vii ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE HETCH HETCHY VALLEY .... 278 The photograph is taken from a point north east of Kolana Rock, the dominating cliff of the valley, and shows also some of the char acteristic oaks and ferns of the valley floor. From a photograph by Herbert W. Gleason TRAVEL GUIDE MAP OF THE YOSEMITE VALLEY . 292 THE MOUNTAINS OF CALIFORNIA VOLUME II THE MOUNTAINS OF CALIFORNIA .CHAPTER XII SIERRA THUNDERSTORMS THE weather of spring and summer in the middle region of the Sierra is usually well flecked with rains and light dustings of snow, most of which are far too obviously joyful and to as storms in the life-giving be regarded ; and picturesque beauty and clearness of outlines of their clouds they offer striking contrasts to those boundless, all-embracing cloud-mantles of the storms of winter. The smallest and most perfectly individualized specimens present a richly modeled cumulus cloud rising above the dark woods, about 11 A.M., swelling with a visi ble motion straight up into the calm, sunny sky to a height of twelve to fourteen thousand feet above the sea, its white, pearly bosses relieved by gray and pale purple shadows in the hollows, and showing outlines as keenly defined as those of the glacier-polished domes. In less than an hour it attains full development and stands MOUNTAINS OF CALIFORNIA poised in the blazing sunshine like some colossal mountain, as beautiful in form and finish as if it were to become a permanent addition to the landscape. Presently a thunderbolt crashes through the crisp air, ringing like steel on steel, sharp and clear, its startling detonation break ing into a spray of echoes against the cliffs and canon walls. Then down comes a cataract of rain. The big drops sift through the pine needles, plash and patter on the granite pave ments, and pour down the sides of ridges and domes in a network of gray, bubbling rills. In a few minutes the cloud withers to a mesh of dim filaments and disappears, leaving the sky perfectly clear and bright, every dust particle wiped and washed out of it. Everything is re freshed and invigorated, a steam of fragrance rises, and the storm is finished one cloud, one lightning stroke, and one dash of rain. This is the Sierra mid-summer thunderstorm re duced to its lowest terms. But some of them attain much larger proportions, and assume a grandeur and energy of expression hardly sur passed by those bred in the depths of winter, " producing those sudden floods called cloud bursts," which are local, and to a considerable extent periodical, for they appear nearly every day about the same time for weeks, usually about eleven o clock, and lasting from five 4 SIERRA THUNDERSTORMS minutes to an hour or two. One soon becomes so accustomed to see them that the noon sky seems empty and abandoned without them, as if Nature were forgetting something. When the glorious pearl and alabaster clouds of these noonday storms are being built I never give attention to anything else. No mountain or mountain range, however divinely clothed with light, has a more enduring charm than those fleeting mountains of the sky floating foun tains bearing water for every well, the angels of the streams and lakes in the ; brooding deep azure, or sweeping softly along the ground over ridge and dome, over meadow, over forest, over garden and grove; lingering with cooling shad ows, refreshing every flower, and soothing rugged rock brows with a gentleness of touch and gesture wholly divine. The most beautiful and imposing of the sum mer storms rise just above the upper edge of the silver fir zone, and all are so beautiful that it is not easy to choose any one for particular description. The one that I remember best fell on the mountains near Yosemite Valley, July 19, 1869, while I was encamped in the silver fir woods. A range of bossy cumuli took posses sion of the sky, huge domes and peaks rising one beyond another with deep canons between them, bending this way and that in long curves 5 THE MOUNTAINS OF CALIFORNIA and reaches, interrupted here and there with white upboiling masses that looked like the spray of waterfalls. Zigzag lances of lightning followed each other in quick succession, and the thunder was so gloriously loud and massive it seemed as if surely an entire mountain was being shattered at every stroke. Only the trees were touched, however, so far as I could see, a few firs two hundred feet high, perhaps, and five to six feet in diameter, were split into long rails and slivers from top to bottom and scat tered to all points of the compass. Then came the rain in a hearty flood, covering the ground and making it shine with a continuous sheet of water that, like a transparent film or skin, fitted closely down over all the rugged anatomy of the landscape. It is not long, geologically speaking, since the first raindrop fell on the present landscapes of the Sierra; and in the few tens of thousands of years of stormy cultivation they have been blest with, how beautiful they have become! The first rains fell on raw, crumbling moraines and rocks without a plant. Now scarcely a drop can fail to find a beautiful mark : on the tops of the peaks, on the smooth glacier pave ments, on the curves of the domes, on moraines full of crystals, on the thousand forms of yo- semitic sculpture with their tender beauty of 6 SIERRA THUNDERSTORMS balmy, flowery vegetation, laving, plashing, glinting, pattering; some falling softly on mead ows, creeping out of sight, seeking and finding every thirsty rootlet, some through the spires of the woods, sifting in dust through the nee dles, and whispering good cheer to each of them; some falling with blunt tapping sounds, drum ming on the broad leaves of veratrum, cypri- pedium, saxifrage; some falling straight into fragrant corollas, kissing the lips of lilies, glint ing on the sides of crystals, on shining grains of gold; some falling into the fountains of snow to swell their well-saved stores; some into the lakes and rivers, patting the smooth glassy levels, making dimples and bells and spray, washing the mountain windows, washing the wandering winds; some plashing into the heart of snowy falls and cascades as if eager to join in the dance and the song and beat the foam yet finer. Good work and happy work for the merry mountain raindrops, each one of them a brave fall in itself, rushing from the cliffs and hollows of the clouds into the cliffs and hollows of the mountains; away from the thunder of the sky into the thunder of the roaring rivers. And how far they have to go, and how many cups to fill cassiope cups, holding half a drop, and lake basins between the hills, each replenished with equal care every drop God s messenger 7 THE MOUNTAINS OF CALIFORNIA sent on its way with glorious pomp and display of power silvery newborn stars with lake and river, mountain and valley all that the landscape holds reflected in their crystal depths. CHAPTER XIII THE WATER-OUZEL THE waterfalls of the Sierra are frequented by only one bird, the ouzel or water thrush (Cinclus Mexicanus, Sw.) He is a singularly joyous and lovable little fellow, about the size of a robin, clad in a plain waterproof suit of bluish gray, with a tinge of chocolate on the head and shoulders.

Load more