Spirit of John Muir Lives on in Yosemite
By Lee Stetson
“An Evening with John Muir”, my first stage presentation which introduced the character of John Muir, opened in Yosemite Valley in the Spring of 1983. Within a few days, a ticket taker from the Yosemite Association came backstage to inform me that she had overheard one audience member tell another, “I didn’t even know that John Muir was still alive!”
In a way, he might be said to be.
Muir himself wrote, “A man, in his books, may be said to wander the world long after he is in his grave.” And indeed, certainly the spirit of his elegant writing, amazing adventures, and environmental wisdom is still wandering about, “preaching to the saved”, exhorting the indifferent, and berating the greedy and the arrogant.
His eloquent words, borrowed and repackaged a bit, have happily taken me to amphitheaters, schools, cruise ships, colleges and universities, bookstores, river trips, High Sierra campfires, wilderness and environmental conferences, festivals and celebrations, to Chautauqua events, libraries, theaters, and from Washington D.C. to Hawaii, from Alaska to the Everglades, to most of our National Parks, and to Canada, Scotland, and Japan. But always and gratefully, for 5 months of every year, for 27 years, this pilgrimage has been centered in Yosemite National Park. Our visitors, it seems, like having Muir back in their midst, for those eloquent words have within them a powerful ability to move and even transform folks.
Muir, as he experiences the loss of the Hetch Hetchy, explored in “An Evening with John Muir”, has brought, quite literally, tears to the eyes of countless people, re-experiencing a similar loss in their own backyard. And some, in an audience that experiences ‘Stickeen’, that ‘immortal little doggie’, escaping from the abyss of an Alaskan crevasse, are, like Stickeen himself, transformed from the ‘depths of despair, to utter uncontrollable joy!” Similarly, the ‘Spirit of John Muir, centered on Muir’s astonishing, death defying adventures, seems to grab and make glad the heartstrings of all wilderness enthusiasts. And last’s year’s addition, “John Muir is Back! And Man! Is He Ticked Off” has brought to many a new appreciation of a man who so wisely warned us of the perilous road we are traveling and who strongly urged us to become better beings.
27 years, 5 Muir productions, and many thousands of visitors later, I’m now approached almost nightly by returning theater goers who happily introduce me to their children and even their grandchildren. At this rate, I expect that one day soon someone will overhear, “I didn’t even know Lee Stetson was still alive!” I’ll be delighted to attest to it as long as possible, of course. And I am able to do so at the moment because the Yosemite Association is generously keeping the spirit of Muir alive in Yosemite, for which I am immensely grateful.
This season, the Yosemite Association is presenting each of these four shows in sequence, from Sunday through Wednesday evening at 7 PM. On Thursday and Friday evening, well-known rock climber Ron Kauk presents a "Return to Balance". Check the Yosemite Guide for more details on Yosemite Theater.
Special Merced College/Yosemite Association Class in Tuolumne Meadows .jpg)
Spend a weekend in Tuolumne Meadows learning about plants, animals, geology, and the overall ecology of the subalpine and alpine region. During the weekend of August 21-23, the Merced College Workplace Learning Center in cooperation with the Yosemite Association is offering Yosemite High Country Ecology - (Natural Science A-F). Instructor Michael Ross has taught field classes in Yosemite for 32 years, as well as numerous Merced College classes in Mariposa and Yosemite. He will introduce participants to basic ecology concepts through explorations of high elevation ecosystems. Free camping will be available for students at the Tuolumne Meadows Campground. Students will supply their own camping gear and food. This class is open to everyone and at an especially low price of $100, credit or no credit.
Those wishing to earn one unit of credit will attend a 3-hour orientation class. at the Merced College Workplace Learning Center in downtown Merced at 9:00 a.m. on August 3rd and a post-trip session in Merced on September 1st. Special arrangements can be made for participants who are unable to make one or both of these sessions. The weekend session starts in Tuolumne Meadows at 6 p.m. on August 21st, with a full day in the field and an evening program on the 22nd, and a full day Sunday the 23rd.
New Book Release: First Light
The Ansel Adams Gallery hosted a reception for the unveiling of First Light: Five Photographers Explore Yosemite's Wilderness on July 17. All five of the photographers: Charlie Cramer, Karl Kroeber, Scott Miller, Mike Osborn and Keith Walklet were at the gallery to celebrate this amazing new wilderness book. First Light: Five Photographers Explore Yosemite’s Wilderness was published by The Yosemite Association, in partnership with the Yosemite Fund and Heyday Books. Bob Hansen, former president of the Yosemite Fund, characterizes the thousand square miles of Yosemite’s backcountry in his introduction as ‘an intricate tapestry of alpine lakes and meadows, remnant glaciers and snowfields, majestic forests, and streams that roll into cascading rivers and plummeting waterfalls.’ During five summer trips, a band of remarkable photographers camped and hiked through this remote terrain. Their individually unique perspectives combine to create a journal of photographs and words that pay tribute to Yosemite’s infinitely varied, grand, and glorious backcountry. Check out this Youtube promotional video.
$27.95
paperback, full color
144 pages, 100 photos
Parsons Lodge Summer Series
Tuolumne Meadows is the idyllic setting for the Parsons Lodge Memorial Summer Series, a summerlong opportunity to experience Arts & Sciences in Yosemite. The programs offered feature a wide range of speakers, authors, poets, storytellers and artists.
All programs begin at 2:00 pm. The programs are offered through support from the Yosemite Association in cooperation with the National Park Service, Loralee Tucker Hiramoto Memorial Fund, Friends of Parsons Lodge, and Poets & Writers, Inc. Admission is free to all events.
August 29th the featured program will be a slideshow presentation entitled First Light: Five Photographers Explore Yosemite’s Backcountry. Immediately following the presentation, the Yosemite Association will also be hosting a wine and appetizers reception to celebrate the release of our new publication First Light: Five Photographers Explore Yosemite’s Backcountry. This is your chance to meet photographer Karl Kroeber and others who contributed to the book and have your copy signed.
To view a complete schedule of the Parsons Memorial Lodge Summer Series click here.
Coming Soon to your Mailbox!
The Yosemite Association has recently released its 2008 Annual Report. It has been mailed to all Association members and is available to the public at our website www.yosemite.org. The report contains comprehensive information about the Association’s programs, donors, and financial outlook.
The 34th Annual Fall Gathering will be held in Wawona October 3rd. Invitations will be coming soon and will include your DNC lodging forms and registration forms for the events.
Host a preview party for Ken Burns’ new film: “National Parks: America’s Best Idea.”
As you may have heard by now, National Parks are the subject of the next film by Ken Burns. The series, “National Parks: America’s Best Idea” will air on PBS, September 27-October 2.
Yosemite, where the national park idea was born a century and a half ago, is featured prominently throughout the series. To quote a promotional piece for the film: “The National Parks is the story of an idea as uniquely American as the Declaration of Independence and just as radical: that the most special places in the nation should be preserved not just for the royalty or the rich, but for everyone.”
The Yosemite Association has a limited supply of one-hour preview DVDs and promotional posters, which we will send to the first 15 people who request them for the purpose of hosting a preview party. We’ll include suggestions for hosting a gathering, help connect you with other members and friends of the Yosemite Association in your area, and help identify a guest speaker.
To receive an “America’s Best Idea” preview DVD and poster, along with preview party materials, please contact Membership and Development Director John Friedrich, jfriedrich@yosemite.org
Seeking Volunteers to Greet Yosemite Visitors August 15-16
Volunteers and staff of the Yosemite Association and Yosemite Fund teamed up to greet visitors and collect park-supporting donations at all Yosemite entrances during the July 18-19 free entrance weekend. The National Park Service is providing free entrance of all of the National Parks, including Yosemite, for three weekends this summer. It was a fun and rewarding weekend -- the overwhelming percentage of visitors were happy to support the Park they love with a contribution to support restoration, education, volunteer and other programs offered by the Yosemite Fund and Yosemite Association.
Given the success of the July weekend, we’re going to double the size of the effort for the next fee free weekend, August 15-16. We are seeking volunteers to be stationed at each entrance in two shifts; from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m, and 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., on Saturday, August 15 and Sunday, August 16.
If you are interested in being part of the volunteer meet and greet team, please email John Friedrich, Membership and Development Director for the Association, at jfriedrich@yosemite.org
Please specify which day(s) and shift(s) are available, and which entrance gate would work best for you. Don’t miss out on this fun opportunity to make a big contribution to Yosemite!
Merced River Plan Meetings Postponed; Scoping Period Extended
Public scoping meetings for the Merced River Comprehensive Management Plan have been postponed, including meetings previously scheduled in Mariposa, Lee Vining, Yosemite Valley, Groveland, Pasadena, Foster City and Sacramento. Meanwhile, Yosemite National Park has extended the public scoping period an additional 90 days to November 27, 2009.
Special Reception at the Autry Center
The Yosemite Association is teaming up with public television station KCET and the Autry Museum in Los Angeles to offer free admittance to the new Granite Frontiers Exhibition on August 15. Los Angeles Association members who have made contributions of $100 or more in the past year will receive an email invitation to attend a special reception in the afternoon featuring an exclusive viewing of Ken Burn's film "This is America" a 45 minute companion film to his upcoming series on National Parks. Granite Frontiers is an exciting new exhibition featuring climbing in Yosemite. The exhibit was created by Ken Yager, president of the Yosemite Climbing Association with financial support from the Yosemite Fund.
Granite, Water and Light event at Mariposa bookstore