“Going to the mountains is going home” -John Muir, writing the Sierras, or ‘The Range of Light’
I got this tattoo not only because I’m lucky enough to call the Sierra Nevada mountains home, but because they mean so much more to me than just that. Home is the place that you are born, but the mountains are a place that I discovered and that discovered me.
The mountains are a part of me to a much larger extent than my nationality or my state. They are simply a part of who I am. The person I am today couldn’t exist without the Sierras in my backyard, and the experience they have helped me have, and the experience they have helped me overcome. Outdoors isn’t an activity, it’s a lifestyle. I may not be able to go outside and go hiking and swimming and exploring as much as I’d like to now that I live in the city, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t an integral part of my being. It doesn’t mean that when the sun shines I don’t yearn for that part of me, for those majestic mountains and the feel of the California sun on my back; but it also brings me joy because I know the bliss that nature’s beauty can so easily bestow.
The Sierras have gotten me through depression, sadness, break-ups, fatigue, overwhelming stress, angst, anxiety, discomfort and so much more. Exploring the wilderness is better than any drug or any therapy for me, and without it I know that I wouldn’t be here today - because even if this body was here, my soul has been carved by this place like the rocks of the yuba. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. The only thing that has been reliable in my life has been the majestic backdrop to my home, and the experiences that that conveyed on me.
I grew up outdoors, with dirt under my fingernails, and that’s the way I’d like to go out. I didn’t grow up in churches, and I didn’t grow up believing in some extra-terrestrial God or spirit above us. People I meet sometimes have a hard time believing that, but then again they haven’t been to the Sierra. There is nothing depressing about that when you are surrounded by the wilderness. When you’re in the Sierra, its easy to “find God” or to believe in the divinity of nature, but for me, it’s enough to know that I exist and that this place exists, and that sunshine and water and the great outdoors can bring metamorphosis and happiness to even the most crushed of souls.
And that’s why I got this tattoo. Because this place means more to me than any person, any city, any place that can be designated with a name and a census count. It has made me who I am today and I want to keep it close to my heart, to celebrate the place that is synonymous with home and joy and utter bliss; and to celebrate the dark parts of me that the Sierra has helped me heal.
And that’s why John Muir is right: Going to the mountains most certainly IS going home.