My first view of the High Sierra, first view looking
down into Yosemite, the death song of Yosemite Creek, and its
flight over the vast cliff, each one of these is of itself enough
for a great life-long landscape fortune – a most memorable of days
– enjoyment enough to kill if that were possible
…
To shorten the return journey I was tempted
to glissade down what appeared to be a snow-filled ravine, which
was very steep. All went well until I reached a bluish spot which
proved to be ice, on which I lost control of myself and rolled into
a gravel talus at the foot without a
scratch.
Just as I got up, I heard a loud fierce
scream, uttered in an exulting, diabolical tone of voice which
startled me, as if an enemy, having seen me fall, was glorying in
my death. Then suddenly two ravens came swooping from the sky and
alighted on the jag of a rock within a few feet of me, evidently
hoping that I had been maimed and that they were going to have a
feast.
But as they stared at me, studying my
condition, impatiently waiting for bone-picking time, I saw what
they were up to and shouted, “Not yet, not yet!”
*From The Wild
Muir
ENJOYMENT ENOUGH TO
KILL
Even though he might be parboiled by hot
springs while stranded on a high-mountain ridge (during a snowstorm
and while wearing no coat, no less), crushed by an iceberg, trapped
in a glacial crevasse, or perilously climbing to the top of a
500-foot cone of ice behind Yosemite Falls, John Muir lived for fun
in the outdoors. In this delightful little book, The Wild Muir:
Twenty-two of John Muir’s Greatest Adventures, his best
death-defying accounts have been collected and introduced by Lee
Stetson, who regularly dramatizes Muir’s excellent exploits for
audiences at Yosemite National Park. Readers will be hard put to
pick a favorite quote from the man whose curiosity was only matched
by his physical courage. Returning from an ice cliff, Muir
concludes that he had a “glorious time enjoying triumphant
exhilaration followed by dull weariness. Hereafter, I’ll try to
keep from such extravagant nerve-straining places.” Luckily for us
who read him almost a century later, Muir couldn’t keep his word.
Yosemite Association, Box 545, Yosemite National
Park, CA 95389, 1994: Paper, 211 pages with illustrations by Fiona
King; $9.95.
*Betsy
Marston
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Enjoyment enough to kill.
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