Explore the artist's private thoughts and observations of his wilderness experience. Following are selected journal excerpts:

JUNE 20, 1979

This is for myself, when I am an old man, to read and remember those priceless, golden, free days of mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada, and also for my children and my grandchildren for them to peek into the past and discover a man of their own blood and what he experienced on a trip in the Yosemite, and lastly for anyone who is interested in such writings.

I went to school at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Ca., beginning in February of 1976 and graduating in January of 1979. It was a very interesting time, but I do not thrive in big cities. My soul becomes sick and I cannot continue to be all that I can be or even what I want to be.

I left South Pasadena on Thursday, June 14, 1979. My brake light was on and I found I had only half the breaking power for my Subaru, which contained about 1,000 pounds of my belongings and me, all waiting to be moved to Idaho via Yosemite....

JULY 15, 1983

Further upstream is a log crossing which I take advantage of. A four-foot snake slithers off the trail as I approach, and before I pass by, make a point of noting it had no rattle on his trail. The LOOK was of a rattler however—browns and sepias, head [there is very simple line drawing of snake head here] What a grand show this is! Real Life! The Real McCoy! Not a museum, no dioramas behind glass with taxidermied specimens. Oh no! If you will but stop this way folks, you'll see with your OWN EYES the ORIGINAL Creation actually still being created, yes sir, even open on Sundays. The trail up this Canyon is one of my favorites. You just keep meeting more and more waterfalls, more sheer precipices—it just keeps going and it gets bigger and grander and steeper as you go.

NOVEMBER 20, 1991

The High Sierra is getting snow now. I drop down the west side of North Dome—down, down, and farther down to Washington column, out to the lip of the top of the column. Now HERE is a view! North Dome, Basket Dome, Quarter Domes, Half Dome, Glacier Point, Sentinel Rock, El Capitan, Yosemite Falls, and everything in between. Such a panorama!, and such a place to sleep. I set up for the night of spectacular views. The clouds have cleared. The moon rises over Half Dome and lights my night on this prominent point which juts out into the grand upper end of Yosemite Valley. Who can sleep on a point of such energy? A tired mountaineer can.

I awaken later, aware of a movement about 12 inches away from my head. Calmly turning to look, I surprise a ring-tail cat, searching my camp for leftovers, no doubt. He does not scamper away until I sit up. I place my food bag down over the edge of the cliff in a hopefully too-dangerous position for my bandit to venture to. To make a point of it, I "mark my territory." Good night, masked friend.

APRIL 14, 1996

Mike loves Yosemite, hiking, out-of-the-way viewpoints, and photography, so we talk all along the way up Ribbon Creek to the base of Ribbon Falls—the second highest in the world! The light dances through the airy mists at the top 1600 feet above us while waterfall winds and spray give us a refreshing sprinkle at the bottom. The fall actually is enclosed by a large amphitheater of granite, a seldom-visited, inspiring, private niche of Yosemite Valley.

These mountains have felt and seen so much: their rise into the sky millions of years ago, the glaciers slipping over them, the carpet of trees springing forth as a garment, the native ones: grizzly, deer, woodpeckers, the falcons' nest, the waterfalls, and a million tourists riding shuttle buses! We are simply a blink in the mountain’s stone eyes. This is a GRAND place.

An edited compilation from Steve's personal journals which he unfailingly kept during each of his visits to his beloved Yosemite. Presented in a soft-bound book, 80 pages, 7" x 9 3/4", introduction by Andrea Lyman.