Meet John Muir

June 19, 2007

Ran into old John Muir the other night at the Mono Basin Bird Chautauqua. The old coot, now 169 years old, lectured a packed room at the Lee Vining Visitors Center theater.

"Hiking," said he, "is a vile word."

Muir lifted his arms and marched across the stage, imitating the kind of hikers he just doesn't understand.

The art of the mountains, he said, is in sauntering, which is a wild leap from hiking. Go where your legs want to go. Climb to the top of a tree and sway in the wind. Pack light. "Why do people always think they need a roof over their heads?"

The coot was a hoot.

Some people in the audience thought that Muir bore a resemblance to one Lee Stetson of Mariposa County over on the West Side. An hour upon the stage, hardly anyone wasn't convinced that this guy was the real thing, though, right down to the thick Scottish brogue.

People need a guy like this to wander in through town from time to time, or else we get all jaded and busy and lose sight of what's plainly in front of our faces: a beautiful spot of the world.

And hey thanks to the Bird Chautauqua people. That event just keeps getting better and better.

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