A Journal of Ramblings Through the High Sierras of California

A Journal of Ramblings Through the High Sierras of California by the "University Excursion Party by Joseph Le Conte

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


"The Sierra Nevada was the scene of the first meeting, in August, 1870, of two men whose names and memories will forever linger in these mountains -- John Muir and Joseph LeConte. It was LeConte's first summer in the Sierra, and Muir conducted him and his party over the route which he himself had traced out for the first time only a year before."

~~Ralph S. Kuykendall


I was so disappointed in this book! I thought it would be a vivid description of Yosemite, and John Muir -- be filled with conversations between the two men, talk about the development that had taken place in Yosemite, etc.

But no. It was a journal, and recorded how far they traveled each day, what they ate, how the chores were on a rota, etc. There was some description of the various falls in Yosemite, and of Mirror Lake (as it was). There certainly were paeans to sunsets & sunrises & the majestic scenery (not well described but very much appreciated.) But overall, it was a pretty dry & boring recording of the statistics of the trip: what trails they took, how steep they were, how many days it took to get from this place to that place. Absolutely no description or information on the Native Americans they encountered, which was particularly frustrating to me as an archaeologist and anthropologist.

And frustrating that so little was said about John Muir.