My First Summer in the Sierra: Illustrated, John Muir & Scot Miller

09/14/2026

“The Trip Back…
Got a rent car in Fresno. Security measures were very evident – leaving Yosemite and at Fresno Airport. One road into the airport was shut off by the military (it’s also a military base). Police were in front of the terminal, no stopping allowed. The airport was eerily empty except for the rental car counters. I drove 120 miles last night to Bakersfield CA. It is now 8:00A and I am in a coffee shop. Everyone is talking about the current events. Lots of anger and anxieties.”

“It was a nice drive across the country. Beautiful skies, clouds, scenery. The Old Route 66. Ended up in Santa Rosa NM. Sang “Battle Hymn of the Republic” as I listened to the national prayer service.”

– Journal entries from Friday, September 14, 2001

POSTSCRIPT – I arrived home in Texas at 5:48P on Saturday, September 15, 2001 after driving 1,623.3 miles in a little over two days. VIDEO LINK in Comments...

09/13/2026

“Woke up at 6:45A. Went out and took a few 645 photos & video of (the) lake. Today’s hike is 13.5 miles to Yosemite Valley.”

“We made it! Finished our journey at 5:15 PM. A long hike out, but mostly downhill & level. Don’t tell that to my feet! They’re sore!”

“It’s been an incredible experience. I will not let the terrible terrorist acts diminish this experience. The events will forever be linked in my mind and I feel terrible for all the families affected. But life does go on. We all need places to retreat to from time to time and our national parks are world treasures. I think it’s my duty to make sure good things came out of this experience.”

– Journal entries from Thursday, September 13, 2001, in the Yosemite wilderness



This image is a screen grab from DV video shot on 9-13-01

09/12/2026

“It is the ultimate irony that yesterday we were feeling so wonderful and triumphant as we approached our final evening in camp. I am very thankful for the opportunity to have had this experience. It is wonderful being in such a magnificent place with no outside contact with the world, but when you find out about what has happened (and at this time we only have a very few details from yesterday at 9 AM CA time – 2 planes crashed into the World Trade Center Towers, missiles (?) fired at the Pentagon, airliners diverted to Canada, President in hiding…), it is very sobering.”

“I have no idea whether or not I will be able to get home Friday, but I am SO hoping I do. The ultimate irony here… The only outside sounds we have heard since we’ve been here are the sounds of jets flying far overhead. Now it is totally silent except for the streams running, the wind blowing, etc. No jets have been flying since yesterday morning. I cannot tell you how happy I will be to hear the first jet overhead again. I’m really hoping it is today! It seems like a science fiction movie… going into the total wilderness for 2 weeks, and then coming out to a much-changed world. I can only imagine what’s going on right now. It can’t be good.”

”We stopped for lunch at about 1:30P and for the first time, we were able to get a weak cell phone connection and I was able to get a hold of Marilyn. It was great to hear her voice & that everyone’s O.K. Lots of uncertainty about how to get home.”

“Still no sound of any jets overhead. Maybe tomorrow.”

– Journal entries from Wednesday, September 12, 2001, twenty miles deep in the Yosemite wilderness (the long hike out begins)

09/11/2026

“This is the last day of camp! I got out of my tent at 6:45 AM and the first thing I noticed was that it was overcast… Not a good sign in the Sierra. It normally means a storm is brewing. (As I’m writing this at noon, there are some very dark clouds coming over the mountains towards us. Things could get very interesting before the day is over. We’re all battening down the hatches!”
“Went to the upper meadow… Lots of good clouds.”

“7:50 PM I am TOTALLY in shock. We just found out about the terrorist attacks in the U.S. When Sheridan (our packer) told us, it at first sounded like a bad, terrible joke. But it’s obvious that it is not. Suddenly, everything here becomes inconsequential.”

– Journal entries from Tuesday, September 11, 2001, twenty miles deep in the Yosemite wilderness



Note – This photograph was taken at 9:30A west coast time See less

09/10/2026

“Got up at 5:45A after a good night’s sleep. Made a cocoa/coffee mixture and then headed off to shoot the backlit aspens on the north slope of the upper meadow at first light. It was worth it! Can’t wait to see the film!”

– Journal entry from Monday, September 10, 2001, twenty miles deep in the Yosemite wilderness

09/09/2026

“Got up, made hot chocolate and left camp with photo gear at 6:45 AM... I proceeded straight up the granite slope north of the trees and found a nice place to shoot some backlit aspens. Before I left to go back to camp, I decided to move east on the slope to where a large group of aspens was and set up a potentially fabulous sunrise shot w/ backlit aspens for later in the week. It will require me getting an earlier start so I can be there just as the sun peaks over the ridge. We’ll see!”

– Journal entry from Sunday, September 9, 2001, 20-miles deep in the Yosemite wilderness

06/27/2026

Photograph of John Muir’s handwritten “My First Summer in the Sierra” manuscript. Check out the crossed-out words and the pencil sketch illustrating his harrowing scramble to the top of Upper Yosemite Fall. This photograph appears in my book “My First Summer in the Sierra: 100th Anniversary Illustrated Edition”.

06/20/2026

04/21/2026

Naturalist, environmentalist, wilderness advocate, author, adventurer, Sierra Club founder… these are just a few words to describe John Muir on the 188th Anniversary of his birth (April 21, 1838).

A great honor of my life was providing the photographs for Muir’s “My First Summer in the Sierra: 100th Anniversary Illustrated Edition,” with a Foreword by Dayton Duncan and Ken Burns. Produced in collaboration with Yosemite Conservancy, the book received a National Outdoor Book Award. Muir’s hand-drawn illustrations and captions from the original 1911 Houghton Mifflin edition of the book are exquisitely reproduced and several previously unpublished illustrations and handwritten pages from Muir’s journals, kept at the University of the Pacific, are included. Take a close look at this photograph of Page 1 of Muir’s Sierra Journal shown here and you’ll get an inkling of just how fascinating it was to spend quality time with his original journals. Happy Birthday, Mr. Muir!