Pilgrims to the wild by John P. O'Grady

Author:John P. O'Grady [O'Grady, John P.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2007-12-27T21:00:00+00:00

The most famous of Muir's storm narratives recounts a gusty disturbance that occurred in December; he called it "A Wind Storm in the Forests of the Yuba." Chronologically, the events in

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this essay precede those of "The Flood-Storm," but the actual composition occurred some time later; the essay itself did not appear until 1878. It opens: "The mountain winds, like the dew and rain, sunshine and snow, are measured and bestowed with wise love upon the forests, with reference to the development of their highest beauty and well-being" ("Wind Storm'' 55). The wind, "now whispering and cooing . . . now roaring like the ocean," is imbued with an "ineffable beauty.'' On this particular Knoxville day, the sky was breath-givingly clear, as it so often is in Northern California after a winter rain. When the wind "began to sound," Muir "lost no time in pushing out into the woods to enjoy it" amid gusts so strong trees were "heard falling for hours at the rate of one every two or three minutes." In the thick of this aeolian upheaval, the "Douglas spruces, with long sprays drawn out in level tresses, and needles massed in a gray, shimmering glow, presented a most striking appearance," and the madrones reflected sunshine "in throbbing spangles" (57). Muir "drifted on through the midst of this passionate music and motion" in a "tingling scramble," until, arriving at the summit of the highest ridge in the neighborhood, it occurred to him "that it would be a fine thing to climb one of the trees to obtain a wider outlook." He chose a Douglas spruce (commonly known today as Douglas fir) in the midst of a group whose "lithe, brushy tops were rocking and swirling in wild ecstasy." Muir quickly mounted the hundred-foot tree, where, at the top, "never before did I enjoy so noble an exhilaration of motion. The slender tops fairly flapped and swished in the passionate torrent, bending and swirling backward and forward, round and round, tracing indescribable combinations of vertical and horizontal curves, while I clung with muscles firm braced, like a bobolink on a reed" (57)or like a lover to the body of the beloved.

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