The Beginning of the Pilgrimage
Yes John Muir lived in Ontario Canada for two years and in the summer of 1864 wandered for six months through our province. This summer I am following his wanderings of that time. I am sauntering along his route to wander and ponder and put myself into the head of a young man who is now out on his own. This was mostly an unknown summer in the life of Muir because his diary of the time was lost in a fire when the Trout Hollow sawmill burned down in February of 1866. What I have discovered is that he was an avid botanist and sent home botanical specimens from his travels in Ontario. In 2008 a book was published called Nature's Beloved Son by Bonnie Giesel. She had collected images of his pressed plants and created this stunning book. The specimens were dated and loosely identified to location as well. By following this trail of specimens I am able to follow almost by the week where he was in Ontario during his "Summer of Glorious Freedom". Why was Muir ...