John D. Olmsted died March 8, 2011 at home in Nevada City, Calif. He was 73.
A memorial service will be held 2 p.m. Sunday, March 13, 2011 at St. Joseph's Cultural Center, on 410 S. Church St. in Grass Valley.
He was born March 2, 1938 in Los Angeles to Jack and Ruby Olmsted. After boarding school in St. Louis and studies at Pomona College, John's love of nature and all things wild began to take shape.
A position at Golden Gate Park led to the creation of a vast slide set incorporating more than 700 examples of California's plant and animal life, and helped to promote John as a serious ecologist.
A love of education has been at the heart of all of John's efforts throughout his life and has led to teaching with the Oakland Museum, UC Berkeley extension, and at the Mendocino Art Center.
His land acquisition began with Jug Handle State Reserve in Mendocino and has included the Independence Trail in Nevada City, the South Yuba River State Park, Bridgeport Covered Bridge, Goat Mountain, the Yuba Powerhouse Ranch, and many more.
A lifetime devotee of John Muir, John believed wholeheartedly in Muir's contemplation that "When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe."
John is survived by sons Erik (Anna) Olmsted of Atlanta, Ga. and Alden Olmsted of Hollywood, Calif.; brother Bill (Gail) Olmsted of San Diego, Calif., and granddaughter Lillian Olmsted.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011 - The Union
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wednesday, March 9, 2011 - The Union
After celebrating his 73rd birthday on March 2 with friends and family and watching his son's recently completed tribute film, local naturalist and father of the Independence Trail, John Olmsted quietly died of cancer at his home Tuesday morning.
"He was fighting right up to the end, as though he was saving another piece of land," said son Alden Olmsted.
Olmsted was first diagnosed with prostate cancer 12 years ago. In September, doctors found a tumor in his liver that quickly grew.
Eating and walking became difficult in his last days, but Olmsted's mind remained active. He spoke about transcribing his memoirs from hours of recordings and how he needed to get back in shape so he could hike the Sutter Buttes again.
Olmsted is known locally for saving hundreds of acres in what is now the South Yuba River State Park, specifically the covered bridge at Bridgeport and the wheelchair accessible Independence Trail.
His work to create public lands in the South Yuba River corridor led to the river's Wild and Scenic designation and helped halt dams in the 1980s.
"John is someone who will not be replaced in terms of personality and effectiveness for conservation," said Jason Rainey, executive director of South Yuba River Citizen's League (SYRCL). "I think his contributions (in the South Yuba River watershed) are undervalued and not fully known. The ripples of John's work are tremendous."
Beyond Nevada County's borders, Olmsted helped preserve what is now Jug Handle State Nature Reserve on the Pacific Coast in Mendocino County, Goat Mountain in the Coastal Range and the Yuba Powerhouse Ranch. In total, his life touched 11 parcels of land.
Olmsted's life vision was to create a trail
transecting California known as the "The Cross California Ecological Trail." It's a scaled back version of a similar trail idea he had for the entire nation. He often wore a necklace of stone beads symbolizing his dream for a "necklace of parks" strung across California and eagerly pulled aside anyone who would listen to his idea.
SYRCL has received Caltrans funding to create a roadside interpretive kiosk describing Olmsted's legacy at the Highway 20 bridge over the lower Yuba River. The kiosk will feature visuals of the Yuba watershed as one several jewels in Olmsted's necklace across California project.
In January, longtime friend and Independence Trail supporter, Linda Chaplin nominated Olmsted for a Lifetime Achievement Award for the upcoming 2011 California Trails and Greenways Conference. About 20 local people sent in letters of support for Olmsted.
Chaplin is one of many whose lives were impacted by Olmsted.
As a young mother in the '80s, Chaplin took nature classes with Olmsted on the Independence Trail, what he called his outdoor classroom. He showed her how to connect with nature, how to make a dream happen on a shoestring and how to be an advocate.
"John has been a master of solutions," she said. "He's been able to connect with lots of different people and get everyone involved."
Local historian, author and avid hiker, Hank Meals remembers being part of the first crews to help Olmsted restore wooden flumes and open up the Independence Trail.
"For starters, we wouldn't have the South Yuba State Park without John's persistence, creative financing and vision, in general," Meals said. "It was his persistence. You could not rock John off his path. He was visionary in a lot of ways, which gave me insight into a personality of what John Muir and (Henry David) Thoreau were like. He could be exasperating, but unerring on course."
"To me he was just a great example of sticking to that higher ground. Personality issues were small potatoes."
His persistence paid off for Nevada County in the form of so many public lands that community enjoys.
"He just impressed me as a man driven to help people around him. It's not very often that individuals make a difference for large numbers of people," said Don Schmidt, supervising ranger for Empire, South Yuba and Malakoff Diggins state parks.
"We do an awful lot by committee in this world — and that's perfectly fine. But for one person to be the driving force behind such things as the Independence Trail and the Sierra to the coast trail he envisioned ... that's different. He's certainly going to be missed by a lot of people."
Driven by a calling to follow in the footsteps of John Muir, Olmsted often made tough sacrifices to his health, family and finances in order to push harder to set aside wild lands for public use.
"Everything we did had such tight timing to it," Olmsted said at his home on Friday. "Each miracle was coming so fast we needed to be ready for it."
"It was so hard to keep up with him because he wanted to do so much," said Sally Cates, Olmsted's second wife, who remembers living on little money, with cars that would barely start and spending long hours talking with state legislators, hosting fundraisers and taking children in wheelchairs on nature campouts.
"When we divorced, we didn't fight or anything, I was just burned out. I was exhausted," Cates said.
In his film completed just last week, "My Father Who Art in Nature," Alden Olmsted depicts his father as a visionary who left his family to forward a cause.
At times eccentric and deeply spiritual, Olmsted saw that decision another way.
"I was already married to Mother Earth, when I married his mother," Olmsted said Friday.
Chaplin and Alden Olmsted both say they will carry the torch for the Cross California Trail.
Once complete, people will be able to hike from the Pacific Coast, across the Coastal Range and valley floor, up over the Sutter Buttes and into the foothills along the South Yuba River before heading up into the Sierra Nevada over Donner Summit and finally reaching the shores of Lake Tahoe.
Next to his bedside, Olmsted kept a framed photograph he took while perched atop Goat Mountain of a sun rising up over Donner Summit, a long-distance, early morning view of the Yuba Watershed and other shining beads of his necklace.
"It's kind of up to us to get the message out to the next generation of people," Chaplin said. "I think John's ideas have a pretty good chance of coming true."
Laura Brown is a freelance writer based in Grass Valley.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Union
Thursday, March 1, 2012
John Olmsted's "Wild Hog Glory" saved from the tax collector Birthday celebration Friday will continue to support his legacy
A memorial service will be held 2 p.m. Sunday, March 13, 2011 at St. Joseph's Cultural Center, on 410 S. Church St. in Grass Valley.
He was born March 2, 1938 in Los Angeles to Jack and Ruby Olmsted. After boarding school in St. Louis and studies at Pomona College, John's love of nature and all things wild began to take shape.
A position at Golden Gate Park led to the creation of a vast slide set incorporating more than 700 examples of California's plant and animal life, and helped to promote John as a serious ecologist.
A love of education has been at the heart of all of John's efforts throughout his life and has led to teaching with the Oakland Museum, UC Berkeley extension, and at the Mendocino Art Center.
His land acquisition began with Jug Handle State Reserve in Mendocino and has included the Independence Trail in Nevada City, the South Yuba River State Park, Bridgeport Covered Bridge, Goat Mountain, the Yuba Powerhouse Ranch, and many more.
A lifetime devotee of John Muir, John believed wholeheartedly in Muir's contemplation that "When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe."
John is survived by sons Erik (Anna) Olmsted of Atlanta, Ga. and Alden Olmsted of Hollywood, Calif.; brother Bill (Gail) Olmsted of San Diego, Calif., and granddaughter Lillian Olmsted.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011 - The Union
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wednesday, March 9, 2011 - The Union
After celebrating his 73rd birthday on March 2 with friends and family and watching his son's recently completed tribute film, local naturalist and father of the Independence Trail, John Olmsted quietly died of cancer at his home Tuesday morning.
"He was fighting right up to the end, as though he was saving another piece of land," said son Alden Olmsted.
Olmsted was first diagnosed with prostate cancer 12 years ago. In September, doctors found a tumor in his liver that quickly grew.
Eating and walking became difficult in his last days, but Olmsted's mind remained active. He spoke about transcribing his memoirs from hours of recordings and how he needed to get back in shape so he could hike the Sutter Buttes again.
Olmsted is known locally for saving hundreds of acres in what is now the South Yuba River State Park, specifically the covered bridge at Bridgeport and the wheelchair accessible Independence Trail.
His work to create public lands in the South Yuba River corridor led to the river's Wild and Scenic designation and helped halt dams in the 1980s.
"John is someone who will not be replaced in terms of personality and effectiveness for conservation," said Jason Rainey, executive director of South Yuba River Citizen's League (SYRCL). "I think his contributions (in the South Yuba River watershed) are undervalued and not fully known. The ripples of John's work are tremendous."
Beyond Nevada County's borders, Olmsted helped preserve what is now Jug Handle State Nature Reserve on the Pacific Coast in Mendocino County, Goat Mountain in the Coastal Range and the Yuba Powerhouse Ranch. In total, his life touched 11 parcels of land.
Olmsted's life vision was to create a trail
transecting California known as the "The Cross California Ecological Trail." It's a scaled back version of a similar trail idea he had for the entire nation. He often wore a necklace of stone beads symbolizing his dream for a "necklace of parks" strung across California and eagerly pulled aside anyone who would listen to his idea.
SYRCL has received Caltrans funding to create a roadside interpretive kiosk describing Olmsted's legacy at the Highway 20 bridge over the lower Yuba River. The kiosk will feature visuals of the Yuba watershed as one several jewels in Olmsted's necklace across California project.
In January, longtime friend and Independence Trail supporter, Linda Chaplin nominated Olmsted for a Lifetime Achievement Award for the upcoming 2011 California Trails and Greenways Conference. About 20 local people sent in letters of support for Olmsted.
Chaplin is one of many whose lives were impacted by Olmsted.
As a young mother in the '80s, Chaplin took nature classes with Olmsted on the Independence Trail, what he called his outdoor classroom. He showed her how to connect with nature, how to make a dream happen on a shoestring and how to be an advocate.
"John has been a master of solutions," she said. "He's been able to connect with lots of different people and get everyone involved."
Local historian, author and avid hiker, Hank Meals remembers being part of the first crews to help Olmsted restore wooden flumes and open up the Independence Trail.
"For starters, we wouldn't have the South Yuba State Park without John's persistence, creative financing and vision, in general," Meals said. "It was his persistence. You could not rock John off his path. He was visionary in a lot of ways, which gave me insight into a personality of what John Muir and (Henry David) Thoreau were like. He could be exasperating, but unerring on course."
"To me he was just a great example of sticking to that higher ground. Personality issues were small potatoes."
His persistence paid off for Nevada County in the form of so many public lands that community enjoys.
"He just impressed me as a man driven to help people around him. It's not very often that individuals make a difference for large numbers of people," said Don Schmidt, supervising ranger for Empire, South Yuba and Malakoff Diggins state parks.
"We do an awful lot by committee in this world — and that's perfectly fine. But for one person to be the driving force behind such things as the Independence Trail and the Sierra to the coast trail he envisioned ... that's different. He's certainly going to be missed by a lot of people."
Driven by a calling to follow in the footsteps of John Muir, Olmsted often made tough sacrifices to his health, family and finances in order to push harder to set aside wild lands for public use.
"Everything we did had such tight timing to it," Olmsted said at his home on Friday. "Each miracle was coming so fast we needed to be ready for it."
"It was so hard to keep up with him because he wanted to do so much," said Sally Cates, Olmsted's second wife, who remembers living on little money, with cars that would barely start and spending long hours talking with state legislators, hosting fundraisers and taking children in wheelchairs on nature campouts.
"When we divorced, we didn't fight or anything, I was just burned out. I was exhausted," Cates said.
In his film completed just last week, "My Father Who Art in Nature," Alden Olmsted depicts his father as a visionary who left his family to forward a cause.
At times eccentric and deeply spiritual, Olmsted saw that decision another way.
"I was already married to Mother Earth, when I married his mother," Olmsted said Friday.
Chaplin and Alden Olmsted both say they will carry the torch for the Cross California Trail.
Once complete, people will be able to hike from the Pacific Coast, across the Coastal Range and valley floor, up over the Sutter Buttes and into the foothills along the South Yuba River before heading up into the Sierra Nevada over Donner Summit and finally reaching the shores of Lake Tahoe.
Next to his bedside, Olmsted kept a framed photograph he took while perched atop Goat Mountain of a sun rising up over Donner Summit, a long-distance, early morning view of the Yuba Watershed and other shining beads of his necklace.
"It's kind of up to us to get the message out to the next generation of people," Chaplin said. "I think John's ideas have a pretty good chance of coming true."
Laura Brown is a freelance writer based in Grass Valley.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Union
Thursday, March 1, 2012
John Olmsted's "Wild Hog Glory" saved from the tax collector Birthday celebration Friday will continue to support his legacy
John D. Olmsted died March 8, 2011 at home in Nevada City, Calif. He was 73.
A memorial service will be held 2 p.m. Sunday, March 13, 2011 at St. Joseph's Cultural Center, on 410 S. Church St. in Grass Valley.
He was born March 2, 1938 in Los Angeles to Jack and Ruby Olmsted. After boarding school in St. Louis and studies at Pomona College, John's love of nature and all things wild began to take shape.
A position at Golden Gate Park led to the creation of a vast slide set incorporating more than 700 examples of California's plant and animal life, and helped to promote John as a serious ecologist.
A love of education has been at the heart of all of John's efforts throughout his life and has led to teaching with the Oakland Museum, UC Berkeley extension, and at the Mendocino Art Center.
His land acquisition began with Jug Handle State Reserve in Mendocino and has included the Independence Trail in Nevada City, the South Yuba River State Park, Bridgeport Covered Bridge, Goat Mountain, the Yuba Powerhouse Ranch, and many more.
A lifetime devotee of John Muir, John believed wholeheartedly in Muir's contemplation that "When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe."
John is survived by sons Erik (Anna) Olmsted of Atlanta, Ga. and Alden Olmsted of Hollywood, Calif.; brother Bill (Gail) Olmsted of San Diego, Calif., and granddaughter Lillian Olmsted.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011 - The Union
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wednesday, March 9, 2011 - The Union
After celebrating his 73rd birthday on March 2 with friends and family and watching his son's recently completed tribute film, local naturalist and father of the Independence Trail, John Olmsted quietly died of cancer at his home Tuesday morning.
"He was fighting right up to the end, as though he was saving another piece of land," said son Alden Olmsted.
Olmsted was first diagnosed with prostate cancer 12 years ago. In September, doctors found a tumor in his liver that quickly grew.
Eating and walking became difficult in his last days, but Olmsted's mind remained active. He spoke about transcribing his memoirs from hours of recordings and how he needed to get back in shape so he could hike the Sutter Buttes again.
Olmsted is known locally for saving hundreds of acres in what is now the South Yuba River State Park, specifically the covered bridge at Bridgeport and the wheelchair accessible Independence Trail.
His work to create public lands in the South Yuba River corridor led to the river's Wild and Scenic designation and helped halt dams in the 1980s.
"John is someone who will not be replaced in terms of personality and effectiveness for conservation," said Jason Rainey, executive director of South Yuba River Citizen's League (SYRCL). "I think his contributions (in the South Yuba River watershed) are undervalued and not fully known. The ripples of John's work are tremendous."
Beyond Nevada County's borders, Olmsted helped preserve what is now Jug Handle State Nature Reserve on the Pacific Coast in Mendocino County, Goat Mountain in the Coastal Range and the Yuba Powerhouse Ranch. In total, his life touched 11 parcels of land.
Olmsted's life vision was to create a trail
transecting California known as the "The Cross California Ecological Trail." It's a scaled back version of a similar trail idea he had for the entire nation. He often wore a necklace of stone beads symbolizing his dream for a "necklace of parks" strung across California and eagerly pulled aside anyone who would listen to his idea.
SYRCL has received Caltrans funding to create a roadside interpretive kiosk describing Olmsted's legacy at the Highway 20 bridge over the lower Yuba River. The kiosk will feature visuals of the Yuba watershed as one several jewels in Olmsted's necklace across California project.
In January, longtime friend and Independence Trail supporter, Linda Chaplin nominated Olmsted for a Lifetime Achievement Award for the upcoming 2011 California Trails and Greenways Conference. About 20 local people sent in letters of support for Olmsted.
Chaplin is one of many whose lives were impacted by Olmsted.
As a young mother in the '80s, Chaplin took nature classes with Olmsted on the Independence Trail, what he called his outdoor classroom. He showed her how to connect with nature, how to make a dream happen on a shoestring and how to be an advocate.
"John has been a master of solutions," she said. "He's been able to connect with lots of different people and get everyone involved."
Local historian, author and avid hiker, Hank Meals remembers being part of the first crews to help Olmsted restore wooden flumes and open up the Independence Trail.
"For starters, we wouldn't have the South Yuba State Park without John's persistence, creative financing and vision, in general," Meals said. "It was his persistence. You could not rock John off his path. He was visionary in a lot of ways, which gave me insight into a personality of what John Muir and (Henry David) Thoreau were like. He could be exasperating, but unerring on course."
"To me he was just a great example of sticking to that higher ground. Personality issues were small potatoes."
His persistence paid off for Nevada County in the form of so many public lands that community enjoys.
"He just impressed me as a man driven to help people around him. It's not very often that individuals make a difference for large numbers of people," said Don Schmidt, supervising ranger for Empire, South Yuba and Malakoff Diggins state parks.
"We do an awful lot by committee in this world — and that's perfectly fine. But for one person to be the driving force behind such things as the Independence Trail and the Sierra to the coast trail he envisioned ... that's different. He's certainly going to be missed by a lot of people."
Driven by a calling to follow in the footsteps of John Muir, Olmsted often made tough sacrifices to his health, family and finances in order to push harder to set aside wild lands for public use.
"Everything we did had such tight timing to it," Olmsted said at his home on Friday. "Each miracle was coming so fast we needed to be ready for it."
"It was so hard to keep up with him because he wanted to do so much," said Sally Cates, Olmsted's second wife, who remembers living on little money, with cars that would barely start and spending long hours talking with state legislators, hosting fundraisers and taking children in wheelchairs on nature campouts.
"When we divorced, we didn't fight or anything, I was just burned out. I was exhausted," Cates said.
In his film completed just last week, "My Father Who Art in Nature," Alden Olmsted depicts his father as a visionary who left his family to forward a cause.
At times eccentric and deeply spiritual, Olmsted saw that decision another way.
"I was already married to Mother Earth, when I married his mother," Olmsted said Friday.
Chaplin and Alden Olmsted both say they will carry the torch for the Cross California Trail.
Once complete, people will be able to hike from the Pacific Coast, across the Coastal Range and valley floor, up over the Sutter Buttes and into the foothills along the South Yuba River before heading up into the Sierra Nevada over Donner Summit and finally reaching the shores of Lake Tahoe.
Next to his bedside, Olmsted kept a framed photograph he took while perched atop Goat Mountain of a sun rising up over Donner Summit, a long-distance, early morning view of the Yuba Watershed and other shining beads of his necklace.
"It's kind of up to us to get the message out to the next generation of people," Chaplin said. "I think John's ideas have a pretty good chance of coming true."
Laura Brown is a freelance writer based in Grass Valley.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Union
Thursday, March 1, 2012
John Olmsted's "Wild Hog Glory" saved from the tax collector Birthday celebration Friday will continue to support his legacy
A memorial service will be held 2 p.m. Sunday, March 13, 2011 at St. Joseph's Cultural Center, on 410 S. Church St. in Grass Valley.
He was born March 2, 1938 in Los Angeles to Jack and Ruby Olmsted. After boarding school in St. Louis and studies at Pomona College, John's love of nature and all things wild began to take shape.
A position at Golden Gate Park led to the creation of a vast slide set incorporating more than 700 examples of California's plant and animal life, and helped to promote John as a serious ecologist.
A love of education has been at the heart of all of John's efforts throughout his life and has led to teaching with the Oakland Museum, UC Berkeley extension, and at the Mendocino Art Center.
His land acquisition began with Jug Handle State Reserve in Mendocino and has included the Independence Trail in Nevada City, the South Yuba River State Park, Bridgeport Covered Bridge, Goat Mountain, the Yuba Powerhouse Ranch, and many more.
A lifetime devotee of John Muir, John believed wholeheartedly in Muir's contemplation that "When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe."
John is survived by sons Erik (Anna) Olmsted of Atlanta, Ga. and Alden Olmsted of Hollywood, Calif.; brother Bill (Gail) Olmsted of San Diego, Calif., and granddaughter Lillian Olmsted.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011 - The Union
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wednesday, March 9, 2011 - The Union
After celebrating his 73rd birthday on March 2 with friends and family and watching his son's recently completed tribute film, local naturalist and father of the Independence Trail, John Olmsted quietly died of cancer at his home Tuesday morning.
"He was fighting right up to the end, as though he was saving another piece of land," said son Alden Olmsted.
Olmsted was first diagnosed with prostate cancer 12 years ago. In September, doctors found a tumor in his liver that quickly grew.
Eating and walking became difficult in his last days, but Olmsted's mind remained active. He spoke about transcribing his memoirs from hours of recordings and how he needed to get back in shape so he could hike the Sutter Buttes again.
Olmsted is known locally for saving hundreds of acres in what is now the South Yuba River State Park, specifically the covered bridge at Bridgeport and the wheelchair accessible Independence Trail.
His work to create public lands in the South Yuba River corridor led to the river's Wild and Scenic designation and helped halt dams in the 1980s.
"John is someone who will not be replaced in terms of personality and effectiveness for conservation," said Jason Rainey, executive director of South Yuba River Citizen's League (SYRCL). "I think his contributions (in the South Yuba River watershed) are undervalued and not fully known. The ripples of John's work are tremendous."
Beyond Nevada County's borders, Olmsted helped preserve what is now Jug Handle State Nature Reserve on the Pacific Coast in Mendocino County, Goat Mountain in the Coastal Range and the Yuba Powerhouse Ranch. In total, his life touched 11 parcels of land.
Olmsted's life vision was to create a trail
transecting California known as the "The Cross California Ecological Trail." It's a scaled back version of a similar trail idea he had for the entire nation. He often wore a necklace of stone beads symbolizing his dream for a "necklace of parks" strung across California and eagerly pulled aside anyone who would listen to his idea.
SYRCL has received Caltrans funding to create a roadside interpretive kiosk describing Olmsted's legacy at the Highway 20 bridge over the lower Yuba River. The kiosk will feature visuals of the Yuba watershed as one several jewels in Olmsted's necklace across California project.
In January, longtime friend and Independence Trail supporter, Linda Chaplin nominated Olmsted for a Lifetime Achievement Award for the upcoming 2011 California Trails and Greenways Conference. About 20 local people sent in letters of support for Olmsted.
Chaplin is one of many whose lives were impacted by Olmsted.
As a young mother in the '80s, Chaplin took nature classes with Olmsted on the Independence Trail, what he called his outdoor classroom. He showed her how to connect with nature, how to make a dream happen on a shoestring and how to be an advocate.
"John has been a master of solutions," she said. "He's been able to connect with lots of different people and get everyone involved."
Local historian, author and avid hiker, Hank Meals remembers being part of the first crews to help Olmsted restore wooden flumes and open up the Independence Trail.
"For starters, we wouldn't have the South Yuba State Park without John's persistence, creative financing and vision, in general," Meals said. "It was his persistence. You could not rock John off his path. He was visionary in a lot of ways, which gave me insight into a personality of what John Muir and (Henry David) Thoreau were like. He could be exasperating, but unerring on course."
"To me he was just a great example of sticking to that higher ground. Personality issues were small potatoes."
His persistence paid off for Nevada County in the form of so many public lands that community enjoys.
"He just impressed me as a man driven to help people around him. It's not very often that individuals make a difference for large numbers of people," said Don Schmidt, supervising ranger for Empire, South Yuba and Malakoff Diggins state parks.
"We do an awful lot by committee in this world — and that's perfectly fine. But for one person to be the driving force behind such things as the Independence Trail and the Sierra to the coast trail he envisioned ... that's different. He's certainly going to be missed by a lot of people."
Driven by a calling to follow in the footsteps of John Muir, Olmsted often made tough sacrifices to his health, family and finances in order to push harder to set aside wild lands for public use.
"Everything we did had such tight timing to it," Olmsted said at his home on Friday. "Each miracle was coming so fast we needed to be ready for it."
"It was so hard to keep up with him because he wanted to do so much," said Sally Cates, Olmsted's second wife, who remembers living on little money, with cars that would barely start and spending long hours talking with state legislators, hosting fundraisers and taking children in wheelchairs on nature campouts.
"When we divorced, we didn't fight or anything, I was just burned out. I was exhausted," Cates said.
In his film completed just last week, "My Father Who Art in Nature," Alden Olmsted depicts his father as a visionary who left his family to forward a cause.
At times eccentric and deeply spiritual, Olmsted saw that decision another way.
"I was already married to Mother Earth, when I married his mother," Olmsted said Friday.
Chaplin and Alden Olmsted both say they will carry the torch for the Cross California Trail.
Once complete, people will be able to hike from the Pacific Coast, across the Coastal Range and valley floor, up over the Sutter Buttes and into the foothills along the South Yuba River before heading up into the Sierra Nevada over Donner Summit and finally reaching the shores of Lake Tahoe.
Next to his bedside, Olmsted kept a framed photograph he took while perched atop Goat Mountain of a sun rising up over Donner Summit, a long-distance, early morning view of the Yuba Watershed and other shining beads of his necklace.
"It's kind of up to us to get the message out to the next generation of people," Chaplin said. "I think John's ideas have a pretty good chance of coming true."
Laura Brown is a freelance writer based in Grass Valley.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Union
Thursday, March 1, 2012
John Olmsted's "Wild Hog Glory" saved from the tax collector Birthday celebration Friday will continue to support his legacy
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