Images of John Muir National Historic Site – Central California, taken in July 2018.

Often referred to as the father of national parks, John Muir spent several years of his married life running his fruit ranch near Martinez California. In his ranch office, which he referred to as the “scribble den”, Muir wrote all of his books and most of his published writings. Having spent time exploring unique areas from Alaska to Arizona he pushed for the creation of Yosemite National Park and was instrumental in the establishment of several others including Grand Canyon and Glacier Bay. The ranch and surrounding grounds are now protected in the John Muir National Historic Site.

It was a huge surprise when I walked into the John Muir Visitor Center and ran into Atlanta Arizona Alumni Luke Ryan who is working there for the summer as an Interpretive Ranger. I had talked to him before about the fact that he takes summer jobs with the National Park Service but I never expected to run into him like this. I watched the movie and explored the grounds and then took the tour of the house which Luke was leading. I had not planned on visiting this park, it just happened because I was chased out of the Yosemite area by the raging Ferguson Fire; amazing how these types of things come about…