September 28, 2009, 2:50 pm
Ken Burns was well along in making his much anticipated national parks documentary before he had the experience that for many crystallizes why the parks have such a hold on the American consciousness. He saw Yosemite for the first time.
"I've never in my life felt the way I felt at that moment," Burns says recalling his first look at Yosemite Valley. Weary from a promotional appearance in San Francisco, the East Coast native had driven to the California park to catch up with his camera crew there.
"It was like losing your virginity, or becoming a parent for the first time. You think you know what it's like to make love, or be a parent, and then you come to realize you really had no idea."
So it is no surprise that the legend of John Muir — the naturalist credited with preserving the now iconic landscape — and a Yosemite Park ranger play major roles in the 12-hour "The National Parks: America's Best Idea." Ranger
Shelton Johnson, who is being hailed as the film's breakout star, pops off the screen the way historian Shelby Foote did in "The Civil War" and former ballplayer Buck O'Neil did in "Baseball."
But had it not been for Muir, who lived in Martinez, where his home is a national historic site, Yosemite and other natural treasures might now be gated communities or tacky theme parks.
"You could see Ken gravitating toward Muir the whole time we were making the film. He was captivated," said Dayton Duncan, a producer and lead writer on the project. "What Ken sees in Muir is what he sees in Louis Armstrong and Jackie Robinson — individuals with great enthusiasm for life and the ability to channel that enthusiasm in a way that has a profound impact on other people."
The six-part PBS series — which begins Sunday and runs through Friday (Ch. 9) — features plenty of jaw-dropping scenery, which Muir called "nature's sublime wonderlands." But the film isn't simply a travelogue, it's a rigorous examination of the evolution of the national park system from 1851 to 1980.
It's also the biographical saga of those from varied backgrounds who committed themselves to preserving the nation's wilderness sanctuaries. As presented in the film, the national parks concept is nothing less than a rousing expression of American democracy.
Fittingly, Muir gets star treatment. His remarkable life is chronicled, including the time he and President Theodore Roosevelt camped together in Yosemite, and his most bitter disappointment — the damming of the Hetch Hetchy Valley to provide water to San Francisco.
"It's such a great thing to be hit over the head when you're working on a film," Burns says. "I just wasn't prepared for what a great writer he (Muir) was. Mark Twain said the difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug. John Muir was lightning."
The film also shows the adventurous side of the Scottish-born rambler — the man who first arrived in Yosemite Valley in 1868 and fell into what Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club, calls a "berserk rapture."
Young Muir would think nothing of hiking 50 miles in two days, or of scaling steep slopes in shoes studded with nails, sleeping on glaciers and climbing a tall tree in a torrential storm just to feel what the tree felt.
Thaddeus Shay, lead ranger at the John Muir Historic Site, is hopeful that Burns' film will inspire more people to explore the 17-room Victorian mansion Muir shared with his wife, Louie Strentzel, and their two daughters in Martinez, where he lived from 1880 until his death in 1914. This is where Muir managed a highly profitable fruit ranch and wrote his books in what he called the "Scribble Den."
"It's amazing how many people live here, or nearby, who don't realize that Muir raised a family here, worked here and is buried here," says Shay. "It's kind of sad."
The site, says Shay, annually attracts 35,000, some of whom are startled by what they find.
"They're kind of surprised that he didn't live in a little one-room cabin up on a hill," he says.
It was in an editing room back in Walpole, N.H. where Burns formed his bond with Muir. While poring over footage, he would, at times, shed tears upon hearing Muir's words read, raving about nature's transcendental powers, and would laugh at how Muir attempted to commune with the land in offbeat ways.
"This is a guy who took a wild ride on a snow avalanche," Burns says. "A guy who would drink the purple liquid of the Sequoia pine cone to become more tree-wise and 'Sequoiacal.' To even make up a word like that — you've gotta love him."
Still, it is Johnson, 51, who is gaining a sort of celebrity status as the documentary approaches its television debut Sunday.
He is not your typical park ranger.
Born and raised in Detroit, he visited Yellowstone as a youth and says it was a life-changing experience. A graduate of the University of Michigan with a degree in English literature, he won a Major Hopwood Award in poetry. He recently published "Gloryland," a novel about the
Buffalo Soldiers — black Army troops from the Presidio assigned to patrol the Yosemite backcountry in the early 1900s.
He, too, is one of the few African-American rangers, and well aware of the fact that only 1 percent of park visitors are people of color. He has made it his
mission to attract more minorities to the parks.
"I think every citizen has a responsibility to visit the national parks," he says. "These landscapes helped to shape us as Americans." As an ambassador of the parks, Johnson is an enthusiastic one, engaging in talking-head segments sprinkled throughout the documentary.
"I can't have a sedate conversation about the national parks," he admits. "I get too excited. My molecules get all charged up."
He was thrilled to see President Barack Obama and his family visit Yellowstone last month, and thinks more celebrities should do the same.
"If Oprah Winfrey took a road trip to the national parks, it would send a message that this is an environment that is also for us. It would do more than I've done in my whole career," he says.
As for becoming a celeb in his own right, the 22-year veteran of the park service is nonchalant. "This too shall pass," Johnson says. "As soon as you become famous, you're right around the corner from being a has-been."
