It’s #MuirMonday and with this picture I feel like I’ve finally been able to capture Muir Woods in a true-to-eye sense: sunbeams, the towering trees, deep shadows, brilliant green and copper redwood color palette, and the blue Californian sky, shining beyond. Muir Woods is notoriously hard to photograph but apparently making a vertical panorama will do the trick.

"Walk away quietly in any direction and taste the freedom of the mountaineer. Camp out among the grass and gentians of glacier 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. … The petty discomforts that beset the awkward guest, the unskilled camper, are quickly forgotten, while all that is precious remains. Fears vanish as soon as one is fairly free in the wilderness." - John Muir

Read more at SoCal Hiker.

"In the mountains of San Gabriel, overlooking the lowland vines and fruit groves, Mother Nature is most ruggedly, thornily savage." - John Muir

I shot this photo on a hike up Mt. San Antonio (Mt. Baldy) in the San Gabriel mountains. Read more about John Muir's description of the San Gabriels and the background behind the photo here on SoCalHiker.

"Going to the mountains is going home." - John Muir

"Between every two pines is a doorway to a new world." - John Muir

"The power of imagination makes us infinite." - John Muir

Photo credit: Robert Randall.

For details and more photos from Bob, start here.

"Keep close to Nature's heart... and break clear away, once in a while, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean." - John Muir

I took this photo on this date exactly three years ago, on Day 3 of our thru-hike on the 211-mile John Muir Trail.

You can follow along on the day-by-day guide here at SoCalHiker.net

FYI, here is the original image.

It's #MuirMonday and time for more wisdom. This photo was taken three years ago, on our JMT thru-hike.

It's amazing how much the colors change minute-by-minute as the sun sets.

Day 10 of the 30 Days of Creativity project, and I'm continuing my #MuirMonday meme.

I shot the photo while summiting Mt. Whitney in August 2010 in time for the sunrise. The text and cropping was done in Photoshop.

"The sun shines not on us, but in us." - John Muir

I shot this photo at sunrise near Dos Cabeza in the Anza Borrego Desert State Park. For more details, read on.

It's Muir Monday, and time for another quotable quote from John Muir.

"One touch of nature makes the whole world kin." - John Muir

I took this shot over Memorial Weekend, hiking up to Nevada Falls in Yosemite. I don't know who the hikers were, but as Muir notes, we are kin.

Keep up with Muir Monday (and more) at SoCalHiker.net.

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

Read more about this photo at SoCalHiker.net.

“Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wilderness is a necessity.” – John Muir

I shot this photo on this date, exactly three years ago. For the details, visit SoCal Hiker.

In every walk with nature, one receives far more than he seeks. - John Muir

Day 24 of my 30 Days of Creativity project.

"The clearest way to the Universe is through a forest wilderness." - John Muir

This is my Day 3 contribution for my 30 Days of Creativity project.