Muir Everlasting

Although he died in 1914, the founding president of the Sierra Club seems to be everywhere. His name is on schools and libraries, trails and overlooks. There is Camp Muir high on Mount Rainier and Muir Woods, the old-growth redwoods north of San Francisco. Muir Glacier calves into Alaska's Glacier Bay. In the High Sierra there is the spectacular John Muir Wilderness and the 211-mile-long John Muir Trail.

Muir's fame is hardly diminished by time. In 1976, the Scottish-born naturalist was named the Greatest Californian of All Time in a statewide poll. Last year, Muir was minted, his image embossed on the California Quarter alongside Yosemite's Half Dome and the soaring figure of a California condor. More recently, he claimed a place in the galaxy. Solar System object number 2004PX42 -- a minor planet orbiting between Mars and Jupiter -- is now officially known as Johnmuir. And, finally, earlier this month, Muir became one of the inaugural inductees in the California Hall of Fame.

As John Lennon said, We all shine on. It's just that some of us shine a little brighter. Muir is one of those.