Not only was John Muir an incredible naturalist, he was also a wonderful writer. I have one of his most famous quotes tattooed around my ankle: “The mountains are calling and I must go.”
Here’s another one that calls me to the mountains time and time again…
“SAUNTER”
“I don’t like either the word [hike] or the thing. People ought to saunter in the mountains – not hike! Do you know the origin of that word ‘saunter?’ It’s a beautiful word. Away back in the Middle Ages people used to go on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and when people in the villages through which they passed asked where they were going, they would reply, ‘A la sainte terre,’ ‘To the Holy Land.’ And so they became known as sainte-terre-ers or saunterers. Now these mountains are our Holy Land, and we ought to saunter through them reverently, not ‘hike’ through them.” – John Muir