1903: The Time a U.S. President Wanted to Get Away

Have you ever wanted to get away? Southwest Airlines has been famous for a long time for its funny ads with the tagline, “Wanna Get Away”. In general, the ads show people in embarrassing situations and then ask that question. Yes, according to the inevitable conclusion, it’s time for a vacation.

Here is a compilation of some good ones:

For me, there is a different motivation to get away at the moment, which is that my state has been choked in wildfire smoke for more than a week. Though my kids have never experienced a snow day, their schools were closed for a smoke day because the air outside is unhealthy to breathe. We’re thankful that our homes haven’t burned down, since some others are having a much more difficult time, but everyone in this state is looking forward to the possibility of some rain or wind in the forecast next week.

The air in northern California, choked with wildfire smoke. Source: KPIX5, CBSlocal.com.

With many school districts and employers closed, it’s reasonable to think about getting away. We definitely may take a few days off and drive somewhere beyond the cloud of smoke.

Looking at the air quality map, one spot that was clean recently was around Yosemite National Park. Unfortunately, the next day, the smoke cloud shifted that way and it wasn’t that much cleaner there than most other places in the region (though going higher in altitude does seem to help). We won’t be going there this time.

Nevertheless, that got me thinking about 1903, the year that a sitting U.S. President chose Yosemite as a place to ‘get away’ for a few days.

In the Nineteenth Century, humans were largely at war with nature, trying to tame its forces and carve out an existence for humanity in what had long been wild places. But by 1903, near the dawn of the 20th Century, President Theodore Roosevelt subscribed to the enlightened view that some of that nature should be preserved for future generations. That year, he took a camping trip that would result in the preservation of not only the place that he visited, but countless other natural areas.

The commemorative sign in Yosemite Valley. Source: usf.edu.

When you enter Yosemite Valley and follow the main access road towards its most famous attractions, there is a small meadow on the right before Bridalveil Falls. If you look carefully, you’ll see a sign that commemorates what is probably the most famous camping trip in U.S. history. The sign sits on the approximate location where John Muir and President Theodore Roosevelt camped on May 17, 1903. It was one of several sites where they camped, moving from Mariposa Grove through the valley that would become the heart of a new National Park.

Two months earlier, President Roosevelt had written a letter to the great conservationist John Muir, proposing a camping trip. He wanted to see Yosemite, which Muir had written about passionately. The President wanted to leave his staff behind, going out into the bush with only Muir to guide him. “I want to drop politics absolutely for four days and just be out in the open with you,” Roosevelt wrote.

And so, in May 1903, Roosevelt met Muir at Yosemite. In a grove of giant sequoia trees, the president’s staff laid down a stack of wool blankets for him to sleep on under a huge tree called the Grizzly Giant. President Roosevelt told them to leave him there, which they did. For the next several days, the president dropped everything else in his life, going off the grid and out of communication with the country, and camped outdoors with only Muir as his companion. They moved through what is now Yosemite National Park and took in the grandeur of glacier-carved granite peaks, a river and waterfalls, and forests of sequoia and pine.

President Theodore Roosevelt (L) and John Muir (R) at Yosemite. Public domain.

They camped in several different spots. From Mariposa Grove to Sentinel Dome to Glacier Point and through the valley, John Muir filled Roosevelt’s head with all kinds of wild notions about how the government should preserve the natural beauty of Yosemite and other wild places. Their discussion formed the blueprint for the National Park Service.

After emerging from the wilderness, President Roosevelt said, “There can be nothing in the world more beautiful than the Yosemite, the groves of giant sequoias…our people should see to it that they are preserved for their children and their children’s children forever, with their majestic beauty unmarred.”

Upon returning to Washington, D.C., President Roosevelt moved to protect Yosemite. He also transferred the responsibility of the country’s forest reserves to the U.S. Forest Service. He pushed Congress to pass the Antiquities Act, which allowed the creation of national monuments.

Over the next few years, Roosevelt signed legislation or orders that created five new national parks, 18 national monuments, 150 national forests, and 55 wildlife refuges and national bird sanctuaries. As president, he made sure than not only Yosemite itself, but in total more than 230 million acres of public land would be protected.

His camping trip in Yosemite must have been one of those times when “getting away” helps to ground one’s perspective. Nature is awesome, which President Roosevelt knew from his other travels. Yet his extended time in Yosemite must have given him a new appreciation for nature’s grandeur. “Getting away” can have that effect on a person.

References:

https://www.adweek.com/creativity/southwest-airlines-brings-back-wanna-get-away-campaign-gone-almost-decade-173294/
https://blogs.loc.gov/inside_adams/2016/08/roosevelt-muir-and-the-camping-trip/
https://nationalparksadventure.com/the-camping-trip-that-changed-the-nation/
https://vault.sierraclub.org/john_muir_exhibit/people/roosevelt.aspx
https://www.scenicwonders.com/blog/presidents-yosemite

Images are public domain except as otherwise referenced in the text.