Just Peace

I took a much needed solo vacation this summer.  For a full month, I camped and hiked my way through eight U.S. states and the Canadian Rockies. I allowed the beauty of this part of the world guide me through some of the emotional and spiritual work I needed to undertake. I also allowed the friendly folks along the way, both progressive and conservative, feed my hunger for evidence of a more compassionate society.   

 

This journey took me from a cozy cabin in the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the rugged landscape of the Badlands of North Dakota to the plains of central Canada.  I saw an array of wildlife such as buffalo, elk, wild turkey, marmot and even a black bear. I honored myself, my family, my friends and my community all along the way.

 

I want to share one magical twenty-four hour period during this adventure. Around the 10^th day of my trip, I found myself at Devil's Tower National Monument, a 1,267-foot rock wall rising from the plains of northeastern Wyoming. This mystical place is considered sacred by many Plaines Tribes.

 

The legend surrounding Bear Lodge, as the native peoples referred to the rock, involves seven girls being chased by a bear. As the girls ran, the earth started to lift them up and out of the bear's reach. The bear climbed the rock but it continued to rise so high that the girls actually became stars in the sky, or the Pleiades, the Seven Sisters.

 

As I hiked around this wonder, from the base and at a distance, I could feel the sacredness and the history of the land with each gust of wind. I could imagine the storms moving across the plains and the people taking refuge in the caves near the rock. I felt a connection to the generations of tribespeople that had lived and prayed on the land.

 

I drove away feeling connected to the earth.  I towards the motorcycle-friendly town of Sturgis, South Dakota and was a bit disappointed to find I was a week early for the annual international gathering of bikers. As the clouds turned black I raced into the Black Hills to find camping for the night.

 

Waking up next to a beautiful lake, I got talking with a lovely woman camping with her husband and their grandson. She worked as an emergency room nurse in Missouri. She told me all about her experience at Mount Rushmore on the previous 4^th of July and told me she had been moved to tears.  I figured since I was so close, I should visit the famous monument.

 

I drove an hour, paid $10 to park, and walked in. I looked up at the faces of our four presidents, my stomach tightened and I thought I would throw up.  Coming from the sacred space of Bear Lodge, viewing the carved faces of the leaders of the people that decimated the native tribes, I was overwhelmed by the hypocrisy of this "symbol of freedom and a hope for people from all cultures and backgrounds" (National Park Service website).