The Monkey Wrench Gang

“I can take out a bridge for you,” Hayduke said, “if you get me enough dynamite. But I don’t know about Glen Canyon Dam. We’d need an atom bomb for that one.”
“I been thinking about that dam for a long time,” Smith said. ”And I got a plan. We get three jumbo-size houseboats and some dolphins- ”
“Hold it!” Doc said, holding up a big paw. A moment of silence. He looked around, into the darkness beyond the firelight. “Who knows what ears those shadows have.” (“The Monkey Wrench Gang”, Edward Abbey pg,67)

I chose to share this quote because when I read it I couldn’t stop laughing. Here they are planning on how to blow up a dam and Hayduke, for the most part, is being realistic about it and saying “im not sure if I could take out a dam”. Then, this is the part that got me; Smith begins to go into this crazy plan involving houseboats and dolphins. Now unless the term dolphin has a different meaning in this context, I’m picturing actual dolphins. So I’m laughing and thinking to myself, what possible way could a person use dolphins to blow up a dam; how would you go about getting them in the first place. Then Doc interrupts Smith for fear that the state bugged the canyons and may hear this elaborate plan involving houseboats and dolphins. But in actuality this quote pretty much sums up the essence of Abbey’s book by showing how silly it is and how much fun it is to read as well.

How Long She’ll Last in This World

Backcountry, Emigrant Gap

“I thought we fell asleep
austere and isolated—

two frogs calling across Rock Lake.

By morning, deer prints
new-pressed
in the black ground between our tents-

more lives move beside us than we know.”

(“How Long She’ll Last in This World”, Maria Melendez pg, 5”)


For a poem that says so little, it says so much. Most of us are unaware of the lives around us. We go through life thinking we’re alone as we continue to walk with our heads looking down, but this isn’t the case. “More lives move beside us than we know”, life happens right in front of us and we barely notice at times.

A Sand County Almanac

“Have you ever wondered why a thick crust of corky bark covers the whole tree, even to the smallest twigs? This cork is armor. Bur oaks were the shock troops sent by the invading forest to storm the prairie; fire is what they had to fight. Each April, before the new grasses had covered the prairie with unburnable greenery, fires ran at will over the land, sparing only such old oaks as had grown bark too thick to scorch. Most of these groves of scattered veterans, known to the pioneers as ‘oak openings’, consisted of bur oaks. Engineers did not discover insulation; they copied it from these old soldiers of the prairie war”. (“A Sand County Almanac”, Aldo Leopold, pg 29)


I particularly enjoyed this quote because of Leopold’s use of personification. Botany to most people may seem like a dull subject, but Leopold makes it very interesting by comparing it to a war. I liked how exited I got at the simple idea of trees and prairie, but then again I attribute that to Leopold’s style of drawing in the reader. But what I enjoyed the most is that Leopold took it a step further than merely personifying the trees, he made it to where they were the ones teaching us, “Engineers did not discover insulation; they copied it from these old soldiers of the prairie war”. The magic of Aldo Leopold is that he can take something as still and serene as a prairie surrounded by woods, and turn into a something that jumps off the page and comes to life.

My First Summer in Sierra

“July 5- The clouds of noon on the high Sierra seem yet more marvelously, indescribably beautiful from day to day as one becomes more wakeful to see them. The smoke of the gunpowder burned yesterday on the lowlands, and the eloquence of the orators has probably settled or been blown away by this time. Here every day is a holiday, a jubilee ever sounding with serene enthusiasm, without fear or waste or cloying weariness. Everything rejoicing. Not a single cell or crystal unvisited or forgotten.” (“My First Summer in Sierra”, John Muir pg, 28)


I absolutely loved reading Muir’s work, his lightheartedness brings a smile to me as I picture him side by side with his dog carlo who was on lone to him. This quote compasses his whole attitude throughout the entire book. He usually starts every entry on a positive note and makes sure to acknowledge and give wonder to even the smallest of things. I chose this quote specifically because it outlines Muir’s general feelings of his experiences. He does in fact make every day a holiday and a jubilee and his surroundings to him seem more beautiful from day to day. It is this lightheartedness that has made me want to delve deeper into Muir’s work as I try to emulate the same feelings he expressed in the sierra to my everyday life.

Beyond the Hundredth Meridian

“Here geological and human history have at least a poetic similarity. Here the earth has had a slow, regular pulse. It rose and fell for millions of years under carboniferous, Permian, Triassic oceans, under cretaceous seas, under the fresh-water lakes of the Eocene, before it was heaved up and exposed to rain and frost and running water and the sandblast winds. Mountains were carved out of its great tables and domes, river systems cut into it and formed canyons, elevations were weathered and carried away. What had accumulated pebble by pebble and grain by grain, cemented with lime and silica, folding into itself the shells of sea life, scales of fishes, the compacted houses of corals, began to disintegrate again. Vast cyclic changes have left only traces”. (“Beyond the Hundredth Meridian”, Wallace Stegner, pg 119)

Stegner’s writing approach is similar to Powell’s in a sense that he at times writes through a geologist’s point of view. Then as Stegner branches off into his own style we see more of a political point view. This quote however is a refreshing change of pace of both Powell and Stegner’s styles. Although the quote above has geological references, I can’t help but pick up a sort of poetic essence as well. That last line, “vast cyclic changes have left only traces”, in my opinion has a sorrowful tone to it. As if saying the forces that made these places at some point must have magical and vibrant, but now only traces remain. In doing this I feel that Stegner did a good job personifying this area as traces, to me at least, seem to mean like memories.

Exploration of the Colorado River

“These people built their shelters of boughs and bark, and to some extent lived in tents made of the skins of animals. They never cultivated the soil, but gathered wild seeds and roots and were famous hunters and fishermen. As the region abounds in game, these tribes have always been well clad in skins and furs. The men wore blouse, loincloth leggings, moccasins, and the women dressed in short kilts. It is curious to notice the effect which the contact of civilization has had upon these women’s dress. Even twenty years ago they had lengthened their skirts…were worn so long that they trailed to the ground”. (on the Ute tribes of the shoshonean family of Indians, “The Exploration of the Colorado River and its Canyons”, John Wesley Powell )

I think it’s funny and interesting to see that Powell showed the most curiosity in the women’s changing fashion. Reason being is because, truth be told, Powell’s writing style is a bit boring for me. Usually he goes into complete meticulous detail of every last thing he sees, which I understand is only natural seeing as how it’s an “exploration” of the Colorado River, but that doesn’t necessarily means it has to be dull. Look at the very beginning of the passage; he goes on and on describing the Ute’s living conditions as he normally goes on describing everything else. Then right after he notices they have short kilts is when we hear a bit of his thoughts and wonder at how civilization has had an influence on these people. I am in no way saying that he liked how they looked and wanted to do more than just explore, I am merely stating that, it seems to me that after all he’s seen and been through; places seem not to surprise him anymore. On the other hand it seems that people are still capable of causing him curiosity.

Thoreau's Journal

"As i was fighting a the fire to-day, in the midst of the roaring and crackling,-for the fire seems to snort like a wild horse,-I heard from time to time the dying strain, the last sigh, the fine, clear, shrill scream of agony, as it were, of the trees breathing their last, probably the heated air or the steam escaping from some chink. At first i thought it was some bird, or a dying squirrel's note of anguish, or steam escaping from the tree. You sometimes here it on a small scale in the log on the hearth".("The Journal", Henry David Thoreau, pg 39)

After reading this quote, I will never look at forest fires or any type of fire involving vegetation the same again. Even though it is just talking about trees, this is one of the most horrible things that I have ever heard of. However, it does remind me of an incident when I was a boy. My uncle had a machete leaning up against the tree in his back yard. I hated to visit because it was dreadfully boring, so every once in a while id go outside grab the machete and pretend the tree was some sort of villain and start hacking away at it. Whenever the sap ran slowly down it would thrill me because it showed that I was beating the monster or villain or whatever my imagination dictated I was fighting at the time. Till one day my father saw me and asked, “Why are you doing that, you’re making the tree bleed”. It never once hit me that I was actually hurting the tree, that the sap was its blood. I almost started crying at the realization and I never did it again. What shocked me the most in this quote, is that he mentions that he thought it was a bird or squirrel screaming in pain. Whenever I saw a controlled fire at ranches I never once gave it thought that there might be animals dying painfully for this. As I said before, I will never look at forest fires or any type of fire involving vegetation the same again