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Going to the mtns [mountains] is going home. Going to the Yellowstone could we but hear the voices of the mtns [mountains] calling & always [these] are calling come unto me how gladly would [ ] spirit of [doing] or [daring] or of eager adventure but [direct/just] [a/us] we go. Could here the 1000 fountains going home to our loving mother fountain [plunking] thru & free the geysers from afar tall & white waving their steamy banners in the winds like angels of light shining in the sun. Who then would not go who would be left to do the lowland work & yet the lowland work would be better done were we to go like Christ away at times to the mtns [mountains] to pray apart
Going to the Yellowstone from here one must needs go by a way so beautiful it would seem insignificant when or where the journey ended or began. [All is so beautiful] once filled with the spirit of the mtns [mountains] we [seem] are almost already there & the way [almost] seems as good as the goal. Whether to Oregon by the sea & up the Columbia to the end of R R [railroad] or overland by rail & stage up the Sac Val [Sacramento Valley] to [snowy] Mt [Shasta] across [northern] [tables] over the [Siskiyou] Mtns [mountains] Klamath thru Range R [Walamtn] All so [interesting] one one is fairly
away from cares & farms & towns it matters little when or where or how we go. The broad currents of the world seem at once to blow [thru] us. The pulses of nature begin to beat in our veins & we share the life of all the world. Going thus the best of what we seek almost before setting out as when in earnest longing from of mind our prayers are answered ere ever they are formally offered up. Our breathe comes deeper & our feet begin to [quiver] & dance as if already feeling the inspiration of the heavy rocks & ozone. & thus I set out for the far [fames] Yel [Yellowstone] the [waters] flowing thin high fountains in the snow & the snowy geysers like [signaling] angels on the mtns [mountains] waving their [snowy] white banners in welcome Cares loosening & falling & fading away like morning mists on the mtns [mountains] in big hopeful inspiring mornings
Going to the Yel [Yellowstone] is easy when once [fairly] stated for going to the mtns [mountains] is going home
Date Original
1885
Source
Original journal dimensions: 10 x 17 cm.
Resource Identifier
MuirReel27Journal04P26-27.tif
Publisher
Holt-Atherton Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library
Rights Management
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Keywords
John Muir, journals, drawings, writings, travel, journaling, naturalist
