Time Poor

How best to spend one’s Yosemite time, as accounted by John Muir in 1912, and retraced in 2013.

Naturalist John Muir, in his 1912 book “The Yosemite”, prescribes in Chapter 12 “How Best to Spend One’s Yosemite Time”. Turn for turn he drafts a one-day, two-day, and three-day excursion for best experiencing Yosemite, at a time when the park’s borders were very much still in their infancy. The chapter and day begins with a 3am alpine start, setting off “with a pocketful of any sort of dry breakfast stuff”, quickly climbing dozens of steep switchbacks to Glacier Point and along the ridge overlooking Yosemite Valley.

In June 2013, Darnell and Holstad retraced Muir’s prescribed one-day route on Yosemite’s current trail system. This foldout booklet includes their map, the “One-Day Excursion” excerpt from Chapter 12 in Muir’s book, illustrations, anecdotes, and notes taken during the hike.

“If I were so time poor as to have only one day to spend in Yosemite…”