The Journey

The Wind River Range, WY, looking south, on an course with the National Outdoor Leadership School in August 2006.

Photography by Jeffrey Louden

"I only went out for a walk and finally decided to stay out till sundown. For going out, I found, was really going in."

       John Muir

John Muir was born on this day in 1838. He grew up in Wisconsin in a strict Presbyterian home. He was instrumental in giving voice and power to the conservation movement at the end of the 19th century. In addition to the founding of the Sierra Club, he advocated for the establishment of Yosemite National Park. With President Theodore Roosevelt and the first director of the Forest Service, Gifford Pinchot, he shaped the conservation of public lands, especially in the West. He considered his greatest failure the damming of the Hetchy Hetchy Valley.  

Muir said, "One day's exposure to mountains is better than cartloads of books."

As we consider the landscapes of faith (plural on purpose!) perhaps we can hope for a faith that is as expansive and broad and generous and beautiful (and if we are lucky as wild) as the landscapes of the Rocky Mountain Synod. 

       Jeffrey Louden
          Pastor and NOLS Instructor