Nearly a century ago an amateur geologist, John Muir, explored the mountains of California from Yosemite to Kern Canyon, dedicating his life to fighting for the preservation of the High Sierra. Today, much of the area is protected in national parks -thousands of Americans follow his footsteps along the John Muir Trail, wondering, as Muir wondered, at the beauty of this wilderness. Now, in this selection of his writings, we may read how it looked and felt, and what it meant to the mind and spirit, to travel the Sierra when trails were few. In 1912 Muir published The Yosemite, a guidebook to one of our first national parks, but he never produced a book on the region south of this. Instead, he left a legacy of journal entries, letters, and newspapers and magazine articles written during the 1870s in a fever of discovery. From these jottings and essays, some of the most stimulating of which are presented here, we are able to gain insight into John Muir's outlook -- his love for the mountains and for their wild sheep, squirrels, and birds; his understanding of the forces of nature that shaped this awesome landscape; and his long and constant battle to save our heritage from destruction by his fellow-men.