A Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf

In early March 1867, Muir was injured while working at a wagon wheels a tool he was using slipped and struck him in the eye. This accident changed the course of his life. He was confined to a darkened room for six weeks, worried he'd lost his sight forever. When he did recover, the world looked completely different and life had taken on a new meaning for him. Muir later said, "This affliction has driven me to the sweet fields. God has to nearly kill us sometimes, to teach us lessons. " From that point on, he determined to "be true to myself" and follow his dream of exploring and studying plants. A Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf recounts Muir's walk of approximately 1,000 miles (1,600 km) from Indiana to Florida. He did not follow a specific route, only going by the "wildest, leafiest, and least trodden way I could find. " This journal is the earliest of Muir's writings and autobiographically bridges the period between "The Story of my Boyhood and Youth" and "My First Summer in the Sierra. "