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John Muir ~ Coming Home

A short film inspired by writings of the naturalist, author, and early advocate of wilderness preservation.

Many of the locations featured in the film are authentic to Muir’s life, including his home in Martinez, California, and Muir Woods National Monument. Shots of Muir’s original writings and books were filmed at his home.

For more information: nps.gov/jomu/index.htm.

The director, Martinez resident Michael Coleman, is an accomplished Director whose behind­-the-­scenes work has been featured in The Rolling Stones: Crossfire Hurricane, Pearl Jam Twenty, Metallica: Through the Never and You Gotta Move. Michael is also the creator of the SoundWorks Collection video series which profiles the talent behind audio post-production and original soundtrack compositions.

More information: colemanfilm.com.

Text by John Muir:

I am losing precious days. I am degenerating into a machine for making money. I am learning nothing in this trivial world of men. I must break away and get out into the mountains to learn the news. (Alaska Days with John Muir)

Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity. (Our National Parks)

Walk away quietly in any direction and taste the freedom of the mountaineer. Camp out among the grasses and gentians of glacial meadows, in craggy garden nooks full of nature’s darlings. Climb the mountains and get their good tidings, Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. As age comes on, one source of enjoyment after another is closed, but nature’s sources never fail. (Our National Parks)

The sun shines not on us but in us. The rivers flow not past, but through us. Thrilling, tingling, vibrating every fiber and cell of the substance of our bodies, making them glide and sing. The trees wave and the flowers bloom in our bodies as well as our souls, and every bird song, wind song, and tremendous storm song of the rocks in the heart of the mountains is our song, our very own, and sings our love. (Mountain Thoughts)

By The Editors

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