Thursday 15 August 2019

Four Rocky Mountain Chains


“Hiking – I don't like either the word 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 (1838-1914) naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, glaciologist, and early advocate for the preservation of wilderness in the United States of America

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