“The mountains are calling, and I must go.”

-John Muir, Scottish naturalist and mountaineer, 1838-1914

The above quote was written in a letter from John Muir to his sister in 1873. The quote itself is part of a longer thought, but on its own it’s become an iconic quote for outdoor enthusiasts around the world. The full quote is The mountains are calling & I must go & I will work on while I can, studying incessantly. Muir was an outspoken believer in outdoor conservation, and in the aforementioned letter he was discussing his inner drive to study and preserve the Yosemite Valley in California. He played a key role in establishing the National Park Service, and spent his life advocating for the natural landscape.

A deeper understanding of the quote comes from it’s resonance with others and subsequent popularity in the outdoor community. The words themselves speak to an inner need to be in the mountains, where verticality is commonplace. Mountains have a magnetic allure for many people, and this quote, though deceptively simple, expresses this magnetism brilliantly: to be in the mountains is to achieve verticality.