Alaska Days with John Muir

In the summer of 1879 a young teacher arrives at Fort Wrangell, a remote outpost on Alaska’s rugged southeast coast, tasked with helping the Thlinget people adapt to a new world. Soon a steamboat docks, bringing three eminent missionaries and, most strikingly, a lean, reddish‑haired naturalist in a gray tweed ulster—John Muir. Their handshake sparks an instant bond, and the narrator quickly finds himself eager to learn from the man he calls a “priest of Nature’s inmost shrine.”

Muir’s eyes scan the surrounding peaks, glaciers, and icy bays with a reverent intensity that turns the landscape into a living sermon. Together they set out on the modest steamer Cassiar, threading the dramatic Stickeen River canyon and skirting towering ice walls that seem to touch the heavens. The early days are filled with vivid descriptions of glittering icebergs, emerald islets, and the thunderous silence of the mountains, inviting listeners into a world where wilderness is both teacher and sanctuary.