15 Inspiring John Muir Quotes for Hikers and Backpackers (With Sources)

John Muir's most famous quote is "The mountains are calling and I must go," from an 1873 letter to his sister. Below are 15 of his most inspiring quotes for hikers and backpackers, each with the book, journal or letter it came from, plus a few popular quotes that Muir never actually said.

John Muir is arguably one of the greatest adventurers in history. He was an author, philosopher, naturalist, inventor and of course a hiker. His efforts helped preserve Yosemite National Park and start the Sierra Club, and his writings continue to inspire new generations to get outside and experience nature through hiking and backpacking. Today we've gathered 15 of our favorite John Muir quotes, and we hope they inspire you to plan your next adventure!

In this post

• 15 John Muir quotes for hikers
• Who was John Muir?
• Quotes John Muir never said
• FAQ

15 inspiring John Muir quotes for hikers and backpackers

1. On catching a mountain sunrise

Waking up early on a weekend to hit the trail is a sacrifice made well worth it when you reach a mountaintop in time to catch the sunrise.

"How glorious a greeting the sun gives the mountains!"

John Muir

Source: The Mountains of California (1894), "A Near View of the High Sierra"

2. On the world hidden in the forest

When you're hiking through a forest, you have the chance to see the natural world up close. This one is often shortened to "Between every two pines is a doorway to a new world," but Muir's actual words are even better.

"Between every two pine trees there is a door leading to a new way of life."

John Muir

Source: A note Muir wrote in his copy of Ralph Waldo Emerson's Prose Works, quoted in Son of the Wilderness (1945)

3. On the dangers of staying home

Modern life has made the draw of home stronger than ever, but taking the time to unplug and hit the trail is the perfect way to reset and reassess your priorities.

"Few places in this world are more dangerous than home. Fear not, therefore, to try the mountain passes. They will kill care, save you from deadly apathy, set you free, and call forth every faculty into vigorous, enthusiastic action."

John Muir

Source: The Mountains of California (1894), "The Passes"

4. On climbing mountains

The good tidings of the mountains are a real thing. Just ask any thru-hiker, backpacker or climber. Most people only know the first line, but the full passage is one of Muir's best.

"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."

John Muir

Source: Our National Parks (1901)

5. On what every hike gives back

We agree with Muir. We get a lot more than a great workout out of every hike we take.

"In every walk with Nature one receives far more than he seeks."

John Muir

Source: Steep Trails (1918), "Mormon Lilies"

6. On work and the mountains

This is our favorite John Muir quote for those times we feel like we're working too much and not making time to get out into the mountains.

"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!"

John Muir

Source: Widely attributed to Muir, though we couldn't trace this full wording to his own writing. His friend S. Hall Young recalled him saying "I'm losing the precious days" in Alaska Days with John Muir (1915).

7. On what mountains can teach us

Muir knew books. He wrote several, and he even built a clockwork study desk that lit his lamp and swapped the book in front of him every half hour. Still, he knew where the real lessons were.

"One day's exposure to mountains is better than cartloads of books."

John Muir

Source: John of the Mountains: The Unpublished Journals of John Muir (1938)

8. On finding happiness in the mountains

Whether we climb the peaks or simply hike below them, the mountains are our happy place. Muir wrote this one after climbing Mount Rainier.

"Doubly happy, however, is the man to whom lofty mountain-tops are within reach."

John Muir

Source: Muir's essay on climbing Mount Rainier, reprinted in Steep Trails (1918)

9. On rest and repose

If the first thing you think of when you hear rest and repose is a day on the couch binge-watching TV, John Muir would challenge you to go to the woods and find a better kind of rest.

"Come to the woods, for here is rest. There is no repose like that of the green deep woods."

John Muir

Source: John of the Mountains: The Unpublished Journals of John Muir (1938)

10. On seeing the world while you can

Our world is beautiful, and many lifetimes wouldn't be enough to see everything worth seeing. Spend your time wisely and get a good look at as much as you can.

"The world's big and I want to have a good look at it before it gets dark."

John Muir

Source: As quoted in Linnie Marsh Wolfe's biography Son of the Wilderness (1945)

11. On the universe

Nothing will make you appreciate your place in the universe more than spending time in the microcosm that is a forest.

"The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness."

John Muir

Source: John of the Mountains: The Unpublished Journals of John Muir (1938)

12. On mountains as home

If you've ever felt more at home on a trail than in town, Muir felt the same way.

"Therefore we are all, in some sense, mountaineers, and going to the mountains is going home."

John Muir

Source: Steep Trails (1918)

13. On why we need wild places

Muir spent much of his life fighting to protect places like Yosemite. This quote sums up why.

"Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where Nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul alike."

John Muir

Source: The Yosemite (1912)

14. On going out to go in

Anyone who has set out for a short hike and come home at dark knows exactly what Muir meant.

"I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in."

John Muir

Source: John of the Mountains: The Unpublished Journals of John Muir (1938)

15. On the call of the mountains

This is John Muir's most famous quote. You can find it on t-shirts, mugs and posters. Muir wrote it in a letter to his sister, and the full sentence shows he meant studying the mountains as much as escaping to them.

"The mountains are calling and I must go, and I will work on while I can, studying incessantly."

John Muir

Source: Letter to his sister Sarah Muir Galloway, September 3, 1873, in Life and Letters of John Muir (1923)

Who was John Muir?

John Muir (1838 to 1914) was a naturalist, writer and conservationist often called the "Father of the National Parks."

• Early life: born in Dunbar, Scotland, in 1838, he moved with his family to a Wisconsin farm in 1849.
• The long walk: in 1867 he walked about 1,000 miles from Kentucky to the Gulf of Mexico, a trip he later wrote about in A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf.
• The Sierra Nevada: he arrived in California in 1868 and spent years exploring, studying and writing about Yosemite and the High Sierra.
• Conservation: his writing helped build support for Yosemite National Park in 1890, and in 1892 he co-founded the Sierra Club and became its first president.
• Camping with a president: in 1903 he camped in Yosemite with President Theodore Roosevelt, a trip that helped shape Roosevelt's conservation work.

Which popular quotes did John Muir never say?

A few of the most shared "John Muir quotes" don't appear anywhere in his writing. The Sierra Club's John Muir Exhibit, which tracks his published works, journals and letters, flags these:

• "And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul." Not Muir. It was written on Tumblr in 2014.
• "Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt." No source has ever been found in Muir's writing.
• "When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world." A paraphrase. Muir actually wrote, "When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe," in My First Summer in the Sierra (1911).
• "Between every two pines is a doorway to a new world." A shortened version of the real quote, #2 above.

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Frequently asked questions

What is John Muir's most famous quote?

"The mountains are calling and I must go" is John Muir's most famous quote. He wrote it in a letter to his sister Sarah Muir Galloway on September 3, 1873, and the full sentence continues, "and I will work on while I can, studying incessantly."

Where does "The mountains are calling and I must go" come from?

It comes from a letter John Muir wrote to his sister Sarah Muir Galloway on September 3, 1873, while he was living and studying in the Sierra Nevada. The letter was published in Life and Letters of John Muir.

Did John Muir say "And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul"?

No. According to the Sierra Club's John Muir Exhibit, that line appears nowhere in Muir's writings. It was written by a Tumblr user in 2014 and has been wrongly credited to Muir ever since.

Did John Muir say "Between every two pines is a doorway to a new world"?

Not in those words. Muir wrote "Between every two pine trees there is a door leading to a new way of life" in his copy of Ralph Waldo Emerson's Prose Works. The shorter "doorway to a new world" version is a later paraphrase.

Who was John Muir?

John Muir (1838 to 1914) was a Scottish-born American naturalist, writer and conservationist. He helped protect Yosemite, co-founded the Sierra Club in 1892 and served as its first president, and his writing inspired generations of hikers and the national park movement.

Where can you hike in John Muir's footsteps?

The John Muir Trail runs about 211 miles through the Sierra Nevada from Yosemite Valley to the summit of Mount Whitney. You can also visit Yosemite National Park, Muir Woods National Monument and the John Muir National Historic Site in Martinez, California.