John Muir's description of the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne River

John Muir, a High Sierra adventurer who needs no introduction, had this to say about the final river of the '7 Rivers Expedition"



"Every one who is anything of a mountaineer should go on through the entire length of the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne, coming out by Hetch Hetchy. There is not a dull step all the way. With wide variations, it is a Yosemite Valley from end to end.



"The Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne . . . is from twelve hundred to about five thousand feet deep, and is comparatively narrow, but there are several roomy, park-like openings in it, and throughout its whole extent Yosemite features are displayed on a grand scale...

-- domes, El Capitan rocks, gables, Sentinels, Royal Arches, Glacier Points, Cathedral Spires. . . . Its . . . cascades or sloping falls on the main river are the crowning glory of the canyon, and these in volume, extent and variety surpass those of any other canyon in the Sierra.


For miles the river is one wild, exulting, on-rushing mass of snowy purple bloom, spreading over glacial waves of granite without any definite channel, gliding in magnificent silver plumes, dashing and foaming through huge boulder-dams, leaping high into the air in wheel-like whirls, displaying glorious enthusiasm, tossing from side to side, doubling, glinting, singing in exuberance of mountain energy."

--"The Yosemite", John Muir



***** NOTE: These are not pictures from the '7 Rivers Expedition' , They were taken by this person, whoever they are.
Here is a link to the page I got the shots from.

To check it out, try
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The text was lifted from an article about Hetch Hetchy. See it by
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