John Muir Response

After reading A Wind-Storm in the Forests and The Water-Ouzel it is no surprise that John Muir would be the founder of the Sierra Club. His writing is unique and it is easy to get the feeling of his intense love and connection to nature by reading these two articles. In A Wind-Storm in the Forests, I was amazed at the way that he experienced the storm and his descriptions of the sounds and movement within the forest during the storm. Although I feel as though I love nature and have a connection to it, I don't think I would ever climb to the top of a tree and stay there during a storm.

I really enjoyed The Water-Ouzel. Again, I enjoyed the way he wrote about the bird and his descriptions of it. I felt as though he felt connected to this bird. Throughout this story, I kept thinking that he was not only describing the bird, but also describing himself. While reading it was easy to tell that he has an intense respect and amazement by the Water Ouzel.

One part that I found fascinating was on page 264. He says, "Were the flights of all the ouzels in the Sierra traced on a chart, they would indicate the direction of the flow of the entire system of ancient glaciers, from about the period of the breaking up of the ice-sheet until near the close of the glacial winter; because the streams which the ouzels so rigidly follow are, with the unimportant exception of a few side tributaries, all flowing in channels eroded from them out of the solid flank of the range by the vanished glaciers--the streams tracing the ancient glaciers, the ouzels tracing the streams."

I enjoyed this because I find it fascinating that the water-ouzels follow these streams while flying. I also was fascinated to find out that they dive down in the water and even will do so in whitewater. When I looked up a picture of the bird, I couldn't believe that they were so small but still powerful enough to dive straight down in whitewater.