Recommended: Hiking experience
As the author writes, it comes clear to the reader of how much completing this climb means to him and how determined he is to go through with it and conquer the climb, but he also shows his excitement throughout the journey. “Wind and horizontal snow takedown our suits and covered us with a layer of ice,” one example stated by Weihenmayer that the climb was very difficult, but the team had to push through with determination. Throughout the story, Weihenmayer explains every tough situation of the climb, like this one, that he had to struggle to overcome. He continues to push through to complete the climb because of his determination and with every obstacle conquered his excitement is visible. As Weihenmayer stated, ‘“We’re on the top.
Despite the challenges I encountered, I was able to overcome them and reach the summit. I am proud that I was able to venture out of my comfort zone and see what the world has to offer. I also realized that the world is beautiful. There are so many fascinating natural features of our world that are labeled as “dangerous,” such as mountains and the danger falling, rockslides, and avalanches if there is snow; and the depths of the ocean. We have only discovered five percent of the ocean so far, and I guarantee that we will find incredible and creatures and plants.
John Muir was naturalist, author, philosopher, and a great advocate for preservation in which he took interest in since he was very young. Later in his life, he wrote many letters, essays, and books telling of his adventures in nature which were read by millions. His most powerful quote consisted of few words, “Climb the mountain and get their good tidings, Nature’s peace will flow into you as the sunshine into the trees Although both Gifford Pinchot and John Muir sought the need of nature in humanity, their views greatly differed. Pinchot saw conservation as a means of managing the nation’s natural resources for long-term sustainable commercial use. On the other hand, Muir sided more with preserving the land than conserving (Muir, John).
This means that the mountains are about to give him the desire he is searching for by setting out into the Alaskan wilderness and temporarily separating him from society, an opportunity he took during the course of his life. All three of these men McCandless, Thoreau, and Krakauer shared this value in life, making this a suitable epigraph to include in this work of nonfiction, especially in this chapter for it ties many perspectives of the recurrent free-spirited
“Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit, and as vital to our lives as water and good bread.” (Abbey) These words, written by Edward Abbey in 1982, resonate the ideas proposed by John Muir nearly a century prior. While both Muir and Abbey both appreciate the natural beauty found in the American Southwest, only Abbey recognized the threat of human intervention on the preservation of the natural beauty of these wilderness areas. In Explorations in the Great Tuolumne Cañon, Muir describes the area that would later become Yosemite National Park in great loving detail.
John Muir is credited with advancing and making a more nuanced philosophy more accessible, and this understanding is that nature is an organism which deserves our empathy. This understanding of nature is clearly opposed to modernism, and is similar to the early criticisms to modernism. Muir regarded civilization as something to be tolerated, and this is affirmed in a line he wrote which was “Going to the woods is going home; for I suppose we came from the woods originally.” This writing reflected his thought that people could only know themselves if they knew their relation to nature. In my opinion Muir saw nature as more valuable or astounding than
I really enjoyed the time on the trail to really connect to the outside world. I really needed to disconnect and take time to focus on myself. 5. What was it like carrying all that weight on your back?
There are many different ways to describe and characterize a person, but Chris Mccandless was unique in several ways. Some may say he was a nutcase, an outcast, or even a sociopath, however, I strongly disagree. He was something so much more. Chris Mccandless was a transcendentalist. For people who may not know, transcendentalism is a philosophy which says that thought and spiritual things are more real than ordinary human experience and material things.
The novel Mountains Beyond Mountains, by Tracy Kidder is a biography written about Paul Farmer- an influential specialist in infectious diseases and activist in medical service for the poor, specifically in Haiti. This novel provides a unique insight on medical anthropology and the dedication of one doctor, determined to cure others. It opens with the author’s first encounter in Mirebalais, Haiti with Tracy Kidder and an American General, Jon Carroll, in an American military base in Haiti. The American Doctor, Paul Farmer approaches the base, introduces himself, and expresses his beliefs that the American military support in Haiti is doing nothing to aid the suffering poor. This catches the attention of Tracy Kidder, and after conversing
The Way to Rainy Mountain N. Scott Momaday returned to the old landmark called Rainy Mountain for the burial of his grandmother. He begins to relate stories that his grandmother used to tell when the Kiowas were living through the last great moment in their history. “For more than a hundred years they had controlled the open range from the Smokey Hill River to the Red River, from the headwaters of the Canadian to the fork of the Arkansas and the Cimarron.” The Kiowas were a strange people whose culture was the last to evolve in North America.
I am completely taken aback by how lyrical and colorful Professor Walter Alvarez was in this excerpt go his book The Mountains of Saint Francis. When I found that this reading was on geology, my expectations were something along the lines of mechanical and mundane. I was completely caught off guard when I started reading the prelude. " From high up on a peak called Monte Nerone, on clear, crisp autumn mornings, you can see far across the landscape of Italy.
“His glacial studies were the principal contributions Muir made as an original scientist, most of his life being devoted to travel, writing, and conservation activism (John).” Even though his glacial studies put in him conflict with the scientific ideas of the California state geologist, he was not afraid to document his experience and share his adventures with others. He also became familiar with the destruction of the Yosemite area. “Muir’s intimate acquaintance with the Yosemite area and the Sierra Nevada exposed him not only to the depredations of sheep but also to the rapid felling of giant old Sequoias, cut up for shingles and grape stakes (John).”
To the West!? The Oregon Trail!? It is not going on a nice vacation. Yet Mum and Pop said ”the Oregon Trail would be the most brilliant decision for our family.” There goes my nearly good life.
“My First Summer In The Sierra” written by John Muir, is a book that was published 1911 and was written in 1869. It was a book, describing what it was to have a spiritual awakening and to be one with nature. It’s about bringing awareness to the national parks we have today and to learn more about how they came to be what they are today. John Muir was born April 21, 1838, in Dunbar, Scotland. Until the age of eleven he attended the local schools of that small coastal town.
A sense of accomplishment is invaluable to a person. Not only does a sense of accomplishment build confidence and faith in oneself, but it also allows one to reflect on how wonderful the journey to the accomplishment was, and how every little struggle and triumph was worth it. In the middle of summer, where time seems endless and the stress of the previous school year has been shed by students, I never expected to find out that I scored a five on both of the advanced placement exams I took. Nor did I have one-hundred percent confidence the goals we set as section leaders of the marching band would actually be met. Yet to my surprise, I had the good fortune of accomplishing challenging things in both aspects of my life.
