John Muir John Muir was one of the first great explorers of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. After his first hike in the range at the age of 30, Muir committed the rest of his life to the exploration and conservation of the Sierra Nevada Range. Motivation It is not very difficult to see where John Muir drew his inspiration to conserve land from. Muir was an explorer, and completely fell in love with the Sierra Nevada mountains. During the time he began his exploration of the range, the United States was beginning to spearhead the industrial revolution; factories were going up everywhere (Hutter, 2016). On top of this, Muir knew the beautiful wilderness would attract the masses, making it the perfect place for commercialization to take place (Heidig, 1994). With …show more content…
Hearing of a place of much mystery and beauty just east of the Bay Area, Muir set out for Yosemite Valley. It was love at first site; Muir would go on to fall in love with the mountain range, and took thousands of hikes throughout it (Heidig, 1994). As Muir settled into living in Yosemite, he began commercializing his love for the outdoors, and began giving guided tours of the land so beloved to him (Heidig, 1994). He gained a tremendous amount of knowledge for the area . Around the turn of the century, in the late-1800s, conservation movements began taking place, and Muir headed them (Smith, 1998). He would go on to camp with President Theodore Roosevelt in the Yosemite Wilderness to discuss conservation. Accomplishments During John Muir’s life span, he accomplished a lot. In regards to his hiking, Muir was able to complete thousands of treks (Smith, 1998). He instituted hundreds of trails that others would follow (Smith, 1998). He was first to accomplish many hikes in the Sierra Nevadas. JOHN MUIR 4 As a conservationists, John Muir accomplished even more. Muir led the fight to