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Chapter Five Sierra Club outings were never simply hiking trips. Before the first outing, campers were advised to read Muir's The Mountains of California and LeConte's Ramblings Through the High Sierra. Once the trip was underway, William Dudley lectured on forestry, C. Hart Merrian taught biology, Theodore Hittell discussed the history of Yosemite, and Muir spoke on geomorphology. On the 1904 excursion, Harriet Monroe, the poet from Chicago who began Poetry magazine, recited her satirical poem, "The Ballad of Ritter Mountain." She wrote and produced a play, Idyll of the Forest, for the 1908 outing. Such lighthearted interest in art continued; Ansel Adams wrote and produced The Trudgin' Woman and Exhaustos, performed during the 1931 High Trip. And each year the outings succeeded by recruiting new Sierra Club members to "hear the trees speak for themselves." The value of building Sierra Club membership became clear as development increasingly threatened the wilderness. The vast Sierra Forest Reserve, initially thought inviolable, had been opened to logging and sheep grazing, and in 1914 the Club conducted its last outing to Hetch Hetchy Valley before it was flooded by a reservoir. Muir died that Christmas Eve; some thought his heart was broken by the loss of this majestic canyon on the Tuoloumne River. In the same year, automobiles first entered Yosemite Valley, and with them began the modern era of industrial tourism, presaging future conflicts for the Club. In the meantime, modern means of transportation allowed participants on the High Trips easier access to mountains even farther away. In the 1920s High Trips visited Glacier National Park in Montana. Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, and Jasper and Mt. Robson parks in Canada. But Club members conducted their outings primarily in the Sierra, familiarizing themselves with the region they felt an obligation to know, protect, and preserve as a recreational resource. As Club members explored the Sierra, opening new routes and leading outings, they advocated a system of trails to improve access to the backcountry of the range. After Muir's death, the Club promoted creation of a trail in his name along the Sierra crest, connecting Yosemite with Mt. Whitney. The Club obtained appropriations from the California Legislature and did much of the exploration and planning; even before the trail was completed in 1938, the Club published Walter Starr's Guide to the John Muir Trail, and it has keep the book in print ever since. By the early 1930s the Club could look back and see that much of its work in rendering the Sierra accessible had been accomplished. Travelers throughout the range referred to Club-produced maps and guides, and they hiked trails built by Club labor. The organization had overcome the "house Habit" among its members and introduced a significant number of people to the wilderness, in the process establishing an outings program that solidified the traditions necessary to a communal spirit. The outings had such symbols as the Sierra Club cup and the bandanna, used, according to the first Sierra Club Handbook, "as towel, sunsuit, lunch bag, neckerchief, wash cloth, creel, headdress, apron, scarf, pot holder, terminal protection in case of torn pants, first aid bandage." Outings had produced songs, jokes, poems, plays, and a common sense of purpose. Meanwhile, climbers from the High Trips were attempting and achieving more difficult ascents in the Sierra. The level of technical achievement moved forward as major peaks were climbed and new routes explored by such men as Duncan McDuffie, Francis Farquhar, Walter Starr, and Walter Huber. A pattern became established in which respected outings leaders became Directors and officers of the Club. The annual High Trip served as a training ground for emerging leaders of the organization. Up to Top HOME | Email Signup | About Us | Contact Us | Terms of Use |
