Dear Friends,
As one of my occasional series of John Muir birthday messages, celebrating anniversaries of Muir's birth on April 21, 1838, on his 171st, I send the following descriptions of two exciting adventures Muir had with Yosemite Falls. In these exciting times, it is worth remembering that even though we get to the brink of disaster, we can return to calmer conditions.
Richard Cellarius
Prescott, AZ
The Yosemite Fall*
Long ago before I had traced
this fine stream
[Yosemite Creek] to its head back of Mount Hoffman, I was eager to
reach the extreme verge to see how it behaved in flying so far through
the air; but after enjoying this view and getting safely away I have
never advised any one to follow my steps. The last incline down which
the stream journeys so gracefully is so steep and smooth one must slip
cautiously forward on hands and feet alongside the rushing water, which
so near one's head is very exciting. But to gain a perfect view one
must go yet farther, over a curving brow to a slight shelf on the
extreme brink. This shelf, formed by the flaking off of a fold of
granite, is about three inches wide, just wide enough for a safe rest
for one's heels. To me it seemed nerve-trying to slip to this narrow
foothold and poise on the edge of such precipice so close to the
confusing whirl of the waters; and after casting longing glances over
the shining brow of the fall and listening to its sublime psalm, I
concluded not to attempt to go nearer, but, nevertheless, against
reasonable judgment, I did. Noticing some tufts of artemisia in a cleft
of rock, I filled my mouth with the leaves, hoping their bitter taste
might help to keep caution keen and prevent giddiness. In spite of
myself I reached the little ledge, got my heels well set, and worked
sidewise twenty or thirty feet to a point close to the out-plunging
current. Here the view is perfectly free down into the heart of the
bright irised throng of comet-like streamers into which the whole
ponderous volume of the fall separates, two or three hundred feet below
the brow. So glorious a display of pure wildness, acting at close range
while cut off from all the world beside, is terribly impressive. A less
nerve-trying view may be obtained from a fissured portion of the edge
of the cliff about forty yards to the eastward of the fall. Seen from
this point towards noon, in the spring, the rainbow on its brow seems
to be broken up and mingled with the rushing comets until all the fall
is stained with iris colors, leaving no white water visible. This is
the best of the safe views from above, the huge steadfast rocks, the
flying waters, and the rainbow light forming one of the most glorious
pictures conceivable.The Yosemite Fall is separated into an upper and a lower fall with a series of falls and cascades between them, but when viewed in front from the bottom of the Valley they all appear as one.
So grandly does this magnificent fall display itself from the floor of the Valley, few visitors take the trouble to climb the walls to gain nearer views, unable to realize how vastly more impressive it is near by than at a distance of one or two miles.
*John Muir (1912), The Yosemite. Chapter 1, The Approach to the Valley pp. 15-16. Retrieved from http://www.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/writings/the_yosemite/chapter_1.html.
An Unexpected Adventure**
A wild scene, but not a safe one, is made by the moon as it appears through the edge of the Yosemite Fall when one is behind it. Once, after enjoying the night-song of the waters and watching the formation of the colored bow as the moon came round the domes and sent her beams into the wild uproar, I ventured out on the narrow bench that extends back of the fall from Fern Ledge and began to admire the dim-veiled grandeur of the view. I could see the fine gauzy threads of the fall's filmy border by having the light in front; and wishing to look at the moon through the meshes of some of the denser portions of the fall, I ventured to creep farther behind it while it was gently wind-swayed, without taking sufficient thought about the consequences of its swaying back to its natural position after the wind-pressure should be removed. The effect was enchanting: fine, savage music sounding above, beneath, around me; while the moon, apparently in the very midst of the rushing waters, seemed to be struggling to keep her place, on account of the ever-varying form and density of the water masses through which she was seen, now darkly veiled or eclipsed by a rush of thick-headed comets, now flashing out through openings between their tails. I was in fairyland between the dark wall and the wild throng of illumined waters, but suffered sudden disenchantment; for, like the witch-scene in Alloway Kirk, "in an instant all was dark." Down came a dash of spent comets, thin and harmless-looking in the distance, but they felt desperately solid and stony when they struck my shoulders, like a mixture of choking spray and gravel and big hailstones. Instinctively dropping on my knees, I gripped an angle of the rock, curled up like a young fern frond with my face pressed against my breast, and in this attitude submitted as best I could to my thundering bath. The heavier masses seemed to strike like cobblestones, and there was a confused noise of many waters about my ears--hissing, gurgling, clashing sounds that were not heard as music. The situation was quickly realized. How fast one's thoughts burn in such times of stress! I was weighing chances of escape. Would the column be swayed a few inches away from the wall, or would it come yet closer? The fall was in flood and not so lightly would its ponderous mass be swayed. My fate seemed to depend on a breath of the "idle wind." It was moved gently forward, the pounding ceased, and I was once more visited by glimpses of the moon. But fearing I might be caught at a disadvantage in making too hasty a retreat, I moved only a few feet along the bench to where a block of ice lay. I wedged myself between the ice and the wall and lay face downwards, until the steadiness of the light gave encouragement to rise and get away. Somewhat nerve-shaken, drenched, and benumbed, I made out to build a fire, warmed myself, ran home, reached my cabin before daylight, got an hour or two of sleep, and awoke sound and comfortable, better, not worse for my hard midnight bath.*John Muir (1912), The Yosemite. Chapter 1, The Approach to the Valley pp. 29-31. Retrieved from http://www.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/writings/the_yosemite/chapter_1.html.