My First Summer in the Sierra by John Muir

Observations among the trees of California

Scottish-American naturalist John Muir’s memoir My First Summer in the Sierra was published in 1911. In chronicling the events of Muir’s life, chronologically, this book comes after The Story of My Boyhood and Youth and A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf, but the books were not published in that order. At the end of A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf, Muir traveled by ship to California, which is where this memoir begins. Shortly after arriving in San Francisco, Muir takes a job as an assistant shepherd with a Mr. Delaney, who owns a flock of about two thousand sheep. Guiding this flock to high-altitude pasture lands gives Muir the opportunity to satisfy his longing to immerse himself in the California wilderness. The events Muir recounts occurred from June to September 1869 and were presumably transcribed from his diaries, as the prose takes the form of dated entries. During this first summer in the Sierra, Muir makes his first trip to Yosemite Valley, a country with which he would forever be identified.

Before arriving in Yosemite, however, Muir spends a lot of time examining and discussing trees. Seeing many of the California species for the first time, Muir describes each species he encounters as if he has stumbled upon a rare treasure. The first half of My First Summer in the Sierra often reads like a field guide, but with Muir’s verbal descriptions of leaves, seeds, cones, and bark in lieu of pictures. (The original edition did feature some landscape photographs and drawings by Muir, but those illustrations aren’t necessarily included in later editions.) Some discussion is also given to the mammals and birds of the region, with Muir providing his impressions of each species he encountered. Bears, in particular, were a constant nuisance to the shepherds. When Muir gets to Yosemite the tone of the book changes to less microcosmic observations of wildlife and more grandiose descriptions of mountain peaks and sweeping vistas.

Personally, I found this book less interesting than other books I’ve read by Muir, including those aforementioned. Though Muir does give some insight into the life of a California shepherd, there’s less of an autobiographical narrative to this book, and it reads more like a sketchbook of impressions. Muir’s writing is similar to that of Henry David Thoreau in that it combines natural observation with philosophical musings, but Thoreau went more heavy on the philosophy while Muir doubles down on the nature. Most of the text of My First Summer in the Sierra is Muir’s empirical observations of plants and animals, interspersed with occasional paeanic comments about the glory of the gods. The contemplative passages in this book feel shallower than those in some of Muir’s other books, and as far as the natural details go, I think I would prefer to just read a field guide to understand the uniqueness of each tree species.

I’m sure any frequent visitor to Yosemite National Park, however, would love this book as a literary record and tribute to a beloved landscape. No doubt many a home in Northern California bears a copy on its shelves. Those who have never been to Yosemite, however, may have a hard time getting the gist of the landscape from the way Muir flits around from topic to topic. Muir is one of our nation’s greatest nature writers, and My First Summer in the Sierra is certainly a fine piece of nature writing; I just think he’s done better.

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