Saunterings

A rainy day in the Mono Cliffs Park In my process to get deep into the comprehension of the summer of 1864 and of Muir, I had previously spent some research time in the nearby Dufferin County Museum. At the time that Muir was here there was no Dufferin County. Only Simcoe County is mentioned as the location of his early wanderings and  specimen collecting. Dufferin County was a later amalgamation that now contains Adjala and Mono Townships that Muir did his first three week wander in.  What I discovered in the museum was that the Mono Cliffs area that I had already explored was such a unique local site that the early settlers travelled there for their Sunday excursions. Since they honoured the "Lord's Day" by not working, what they would do after church is head over to this fascinating area for some social time exploring the area. I saw images in the museum of well dressed pioneers posing on the various rock formations. One particular site was called Jacob's...

In this Pilgrimage process that I doing of the Summer of Glorious Freedom for John Muir, I am trying to put myself into the head of a young man of 26 who is out making his way in the world. In this exercise of imagination I have to draw on a myriad of skills. I was influenced as a young student by reading a book called "Reading the Landscape of America" by May Theilgaard Watts where she encourages you to actually look at the many layers of history that can be interpreted in really "seeing" a landscape and not just "looking" at it. As I hike along I look on Muir's Route with an eye to the geology, the glacial landforms, the soils, the path of the native trails, the imposed grid of concessions and side-roads and the resulting development of farms, villages and towns.  Reading regional histories, checking old maps in the archives, and reading tombstones are all used to get a sense of the texture of the time and place. I am using Muir's botanical ...

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 ...