John Muir was a man of great importance in the history of the United States and in the preservation of its beauty. His tireless efforts to protect natural wonders such as in the Sierra Nevada in what is now Yosemite National Park, demonstrated his undying love for the outdoors. Muir took a stand against the destructive side of civilization in a dauntless battle to save America's pristine and divine landscapes. The trail of preservation that Muir left behind has given countless numbers of people the opportunity to experience nature's magnificence. John Muir often spoke of the benefits of such divine a place, and that all efforts must be made to preserve an area such as the Sierra Nevada, in order to preserve it divine and often time's surreal beauty for all future generations. "My First Summer in the Sierra," by John Muir is his journal of his three and half month journey that took up and down the mighty mountains of Yosemite. .
In the summer of 1864, John Muir left on foot for the mountainous area of California's Sierra Nevada. Although not alone in his journey, John was afforded the opportunity to accompany a group of sheep farmers a friend worked for, as they free grazed the land that made up Yosemite. A simple journey done for curiosity mainly and for the love and exploration of nature, would later go on to through John's journal of the trip to be one of the very documents that sparked America's spiritual rival in Nature, and some would say be the catalyst to the start of the National Parks movement. .
After the end of his trip chronicled in "My First Summer in the Sierra," there was no doubt that land a divine as those that he was able to see on his journey through the mountains, must be set aside and not used for any purpose other than for the use of recreation and healing, for using it for any other purpose would destroy how it was meant to be seen by the Creator. Why was it though that it must be preserved why not let man use its resources? As demonstrated through the book with countless perfect descriptions of the divine beauty of everything John chronicled through his encounters, from the Douglas Squirrel to the silver pine.