Recovering from a factory accident that nearly claimed his eyesight, a young John Muir ventured into the foothills of California's Sierra Nevada Mountains. The flowers, wildlife, and rock formations he saw during the summer of 1869 changed how he would look at nature forever. Recollected at the end of his life from early journals and sketches, this ecstatic personal narrative gives insight into the forward-looking nature lover who would become known as the father of the nation's parks system. To read this book is to become Muir's hiking partner, sharing in "a glorious botanical and geological excursion" that would blaze the trail for the modern-day environmental movement.