Ansel Adams Gets It

Ansel Adams Gets It.
I think he "saw" what Muir was talking about:

"This is creation. All this is going on today, only men are blind to see it. They think only of food. They are not content to provide three meals a day; they must have enough for a thousand meals. And so they build ships to carry the food that they call commerce, and they build houses to store food in, and other houses to buy and sell it in, and houses to eat it in, and load themselves down with the care of it so that they cannot get away. They can not pause long enough to go out into the wilderness where God has provided every sparrow enough to eat and to spare, and contemplate for even an hour the wonderful world that they live in. 

"Three Days with John Muir," The World's Work (1909), V. 17 pp 11355-56, Doubleday

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John Muir on Nature

John Muir was Galen Clark's buddy. He's also one of the most eloquent writers on the topic of Nature. I try to take in wisdom like this and be sensitive to it every day. For example:

You say that what I write may bring this beauty to the hearts of those that do not get out to see it...The good Lord put those things here as a free gift that he who chooses may take with joy - and he who will not walk out of the smoke of the cities to see them has no right to them."

John Muir
"Three Days with John Muir," The World's Work (1909)

Credit Michael Frye for the last 2 pics. Modern Day Ansel Adams, I think.

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Big Hikes - Good Health - Old Age

Galen was also amazing to me because he took long hikes when he was in his 90's!
Hikes I can't make today. Ugh.

Here's a couple (and this is before there were groomed trails):

Upper Yosemite Falls

Distance:  7.6 miles (12 km) round trip from the Lower Yosemite Falls trailhead; 9.4 miles (15 km) including Yosemite Point

Elevation at trailhead:  3,967 feet (1,347 meters)
Elevation at top of Yosemite Falls:  6,526 feet (1,989 meters)
Elevation at Yosemite Point:  6,936 feet (2,114 meters)

Elevation gain:  2,600 feet (790 meters) to the top of Yosemite Falls; 2,969 feet (890 meters) to Yosemite Point

Hiking Time:  6 - 10 hours. Don't double-book hikes on days when you've got this one on your schedule.

Why hike to the top of Yosemite Falls?  It's the mother of all stairmaster workouts, but with one-of-a-kind payoffs you won't get in a gym: panoramic views of Yosemite Valley; the only place outside Sentinel Dome where all of Yosemite Falls is visible (though you can't actually see it all at once unless you've got Exorcistesque peripheral vision); the chance to walk through the spray from upper Yosemite Falls; the chance to photograph Yosemite Falls and Half Dome in the same frame; and from Yosemite Point, closeup views of Half Dome that you can only beat by climbing North Dome.

Best Time to Visit:  In the spring or early summer, when the falls are roaring. By August the falls have typically dwindled to a trickle, and by the end of summer they often dry up altogether. Check out the Yosemite Falls webcam to see how much water is currently flowing over the falls.

Difficulty:  High. It's a long, steep climb from the valley floor to the valley rim, and easily rates an 8 out of 10. Consider this question: would you climb the stairs all the way to the top of the Empire State Building? Well, in the course of your hike to Upper Yosemite Falls, you'll climb the equivalent of just over two Empire State Buildings

Another, equally strenuous hike is to go to the other side of the valley and hike up to Glacier Point. Here's a picture of Teddy Roosevelt and John Muir at the top

From another angle, it's about a mile down

Glacier Point to Yosemite Valley(strenuous)

Four Mile Trail: 4.8 miles (7.7 km) one-way; 3 to 4 hours
Panorama Trail: 8.5 miles (13.6 km) one-way; 6 to 8 hours

Begin at Glacier Point (Four Mile Trail begins north of the store; Panorama Trail begins south of the store)

It is strongly recommended that you take the hikers' bus to Glacier Point and hike down, rather than parking at Glacier Point and planning to catch the hikers' bus back up.

The Four Mile Trail switchbacks down to Yosemite Valley, providing wonderful views of the Valley.

The Panorama Trail provides a close-up view of Illilouette Fall and panoramic views of eastern Yosemite Valley before joining the Mist or John Muir Trails down past Vernal and Nevada Falls.

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How I got interested in Galen Clark

How I got interested in Galen Clark and how I how learned to see things through his perspective:

My wife and I were married in Yosemite. We've had the good fortune to good back to visit many times, including a yearly Marriage Renewal Ceremony at the Chapel. Yosemite is so good for the soul. After a visit, I don't only feel renewed in my marriage, I feel renewed overall.

During those visits, we learned about Galen Clark - a remarkable story.

Galen Clark at Glacier Point

Born in Shipton, Canada East (now Quebec) in 1814, Clark developed a passion for Yosemite when he first visited the area in 1855 as part of a 17-member pioneer tourist party. After suffering a lung hemorrhage and quitting his job as a packer at the Mariposa Ditch Company, he decided to either find a cure or end his days in the mountain air. Settling at the meadowlands of Wawona in 1857, Clark built a log cabin near a river ford and trail that provided access to both the Mariposa Grove of Big Trees and Yosemite Valley. The road from Wawona-an Indian word believed to mean big tree-was considered the most scenic since it included the famed view of old Inspiration Point. Clark's rest stop, soon known as Clark's Station, furnished visitors with meals, shelter, and a place to graze their horses. There, Clark engaged his guests on a variety of topics from fauna and flora to American Indian history and geology.

Within five years, Clark ascended to a critical role in the development of what would eventually become Yosemite National Park. In 1864, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Act of Congress transferring Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove to the State of California as a grant reserved from settlement. Terms of the act required that the "State shall accept the Grant upon the express conditions that the premises shall be held for public use, resort and recreation; [and] shall be inalienable for all time." The grant was locally administered by a guardian representing an eight-man board of commissioners. Their first choice for the new position was Galen Clark. Throughout the next 24 years, commissioners came and went but the popular and effective Clark was retained as guardian.

The site was eventually developed into the Wawona Hotel complex that continues to serve Yosemite visitors today.

Galen Clark's spirit remains in Yosemite. He is buried in the Valley Cemetery.

George Fiske / NPS Historic Photo Collection

Despite failing as a businessman, Clark never lost his reputation for hospitality and generosity to weary travelers. “He kindly furnished us with flour and a little sugar and tea, and my companion, who complained of the be-numbing poverty of a strictly vegetarian diet, gladly accepted Mr. Clark’s offer of a piece of bear that had just been killed,” wrote John Muir in The Yosemite.

Muir met Clark at his Wawona ranch during the legendary botanist’s first visit to Yosemite. Over the years, the two outdoorsmen made many wilderness sojourns together in which Clark scrambled through thick chaparral brush in the easiest way. On one 1872 trip, Clark helped set stakes in an ice field on the slopes of Mount Maclure as part of Muir’s glacial research. Deemed the best mountaineer that Muir ever met, Clark sought few comforts when outdoors. He was even rather careless about selecting a bed for the night. “He would lie down anywhere on any ground, rough or smooth, without taking pains even to remove cobbles or sharp-angled rocks protruding through the grass or gravel,” Muir wrote.

Clark accompanied Ralph Waldo Emerson, along with Muir, during the poet’s 1871 visit to the Mariposa Grove. Clark proudly pointed out a lower branch on the Grizzly Giant that was 6 feet, 7 inches in diameter—as big as the base of any tree trunk Emerson might see in New England. Emerson was given permission to name a sequoia, which he called the Samoset Tree, after the first American Indian to contact the Pilgrims. Another sequoia was named after Clark. Reportedly, it was the first Big Tree seen by him when he entered the Mariposa Grove in 1855.

On March 24, 1910, a few days before his 96th birthday, Clark died at his daughter’s home in Oakland, California. Decades earlier he had chosen his final resting place not far from Yosemite Falls. He dug his own grave, planted seedling sequoias from the Mariposa Grove sequoias and selected a granite marker. Today, visitors can stand at Galen Clark’s gravesite in the Valley Cemetery and marvel at the growth of those sequoias amidst the expanse of his conservation efforts.

View several of Galen Clark's books online through the American Libraries Internet Archive.

• Read Indians of the Yosemite Valley and Vicinity: Their History, Customs and Traditions (1904)
• Read The Big Trees of California, Their History and Characteristics (1907)
• Read The Yosemite Valley, Its History, Characteristic Features, and Theories Regarding Its Origin (1910)

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