How glorious a greeting the sun gives the mountains!

The sentence turns sunrise into a ceremonial encounter: the sun does not merely illuminate the mountains; it “greets” them, implying relationship, recognition, and joy. Muir’s phrasing elevates an ordinary natural event into a moment of awe, suggesting that wilderness offers daily revelations to anyone attentive enough to witness them. The “glorious” greeting also hints at reciprocity—mountains receive and reflect light—so the scene becomes a model for how humans might meet the natural world: not as scenery or resource, but as a presence worthy of reverence. In Muir’s broader ethos, such perception underwrites ethical care for wild places.