The Unruly Mystic: John Muir

1/27/2026

By Dena Miller tempo@taosnews.com > 'Oh, these vast, calm, measureless mountain days, days in whose light > everything seems equally divine, opening a thousand windows to show us > God," said John Muir, the Scottish-American who founded the Sierra Club and > was affectionately known as "John of the Mountains" while widely hailed as > the "Father of the National Parks." > For those of us who live at the foot of the southern Sangre de Cristos, who would disagree with Muir when each morning we're greeted by Pueblo Peak towering over us in its wintry magnicence? Who would disagree with him after an exhilarating day on the slopes of Taos Ski Valley? Our mountains are indeed woven into the fabric of our lives, perhaps more than we even realize. Independent lmmaker Michael Conti