John Muir came to America as a lad of eleven and spent his teen years in hard work clearing the farm across this lake, carving out a home in the wilderness. In the sunny woods overlooking a flowery glacial meadow and a lake rimmed with water lilies, he found an environment that fanned the fire of his zeal and love for all of nature, which, as a man, drove him to study, afoot, alone and unafraid, the forests, mountains and glaciers of the west, to become the most rugged, fervent naturalist America has produced, and the father of the national parks of our country.