He lived in the cabin for two years, and wrote about this period in his book My First Summer in the Sierra. He climbed a number of mountains, including Cathedral Peak and Mount Dana, and hiked the old Indian trail down Bloody Canyon to Mono Lake.

Seeing it for the first time, Muir noted that He was overwhelmed by the landscape, scrambling down steep cliff faces to get a closer look at the waterfalls, whooping and howling at the vistas, jumping tirelessly from flower to flower. The book’s inspired and lyrical accounts of an iconic wilderness, written at a time in Muir’s life when his character as a naturalist and wilderness advocate was taking form, earns it a prominent, influential place in the annals of nature writing and the history of wilderness preservation.Book Synopsis When he came to California and finally settled in San Francisco, John Muir immediately left for a visit to Yosemite, a place he had only read about. My First Summer in the Sierra remains among John Muir’s most popular works. Muir also played an instrumental role in the establishment of several national parks including Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon. In 1892, Muir co-founded the Sierra Club and became the organization’s first president. In the years that followed the publication of My First Summer in the Sierra, Muir went on to advocate for the protection and preservation of wild landscapes. He described in detail the area’s trees, shrubs, flowers, mountain meadows, glacial features, and animals. On a more modest scale, Muir observed the flora and fauna that surrounded him with the keen enthusiasm of a naturalist. He climbed Cathedral Peak and Mount Dana and trekked through Bloody Canyon to Mono Lake.

On a grand scale, he trekked into remote areas for sometimes days at a time. Muir’s journal entries from that summer reveal his growing wonder and awe at the Yosemite landscape, as well as his endless curiosity for the natural world. Muir’s diary entries describing the land, flora, and fauna he encountered became the basis for the book My First Summer in the Sierra, first published in 1911. During that time, Muir took every opportunity to explore the Yosemite area extensively-hiking, camping, writing, and sketching. In the summer of 1869, Scottish-American naturalist and author John Muir spent the months of June through September in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California accompanying a group of shepherds while they led a flock of sheep to the high country to graze.

My first summer book