Conversation With John Muir.
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Kimes Entry Number
A19-b
Original Date
11-1-1906
Publication
The World's Work, v. 13, no. 1
Page/Column
pp. 8249-8250
Recommended Citation
Muir, John, "Conversation With John Muir." (1906). John Muir: A Reading Bibliography by Kimes (Muir articles 1866-1986). 613.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/jmb/613
William and Maymie Kimes Annotation
Home is the most dangerous place I ever go to,'' remarked John Muir to his friend who was traveling on the same train from Arizona to California. As long as I camp out in the mountains, without tent or blankets, I get along very well; but the minute I get into a house and have a warm bed and begin to live on fine food, I get into a draft and the first thing I know I am coughing and sneezing and threatened with pneumonia, and altogether miserable. Outdoors is the natural place for a man." Among the stories Muir told was one of a walk he had taken around Mt. Shasta. He was staying at Sisson's and as he left for a walk, Mrs. Sisson inquired how long he would be gone. He replied, "O, I don't know, not very long, I guess." When he awakened on the morning of the third day, he related,"I was covered with snow, but I wasn't uncomfortably cold. But I concluded I would work down to a little lower level and continue on around the mountain. By this time I began to feel a little 'gone' from lack of food. I've often spent two days without anything to eat and even felt better for it; but the third day is getting toward the point of being too much. As I tramped along I thought I saw smoke. . . . When I was sure it was smoke, I worked toward it, and in about an hour I came on a Mexican sheepherders' camp. After a lot of signalling and gesticulating, I made them understand that I was very hungry, and at last they got me up a meal. I spent the night with them and the next day continued my march around the mountain taking some bread and coffee from the camp." On the seventh day, Muir returned to Sisson's having walked a hundred and twenty miles. He concluded his story by saying, "But that is the way to enjoy the mountains. Walk where you please, when you like, and take your time."