Friday-Sunday: Danny is on Wilderness duty. So I go with him on a 3 days hike up to the Sunrise Lakes (800hm hike leaving from Tenaya Lakes, it’s about 1h30 to get there) Where he will count day-hikers and backpackers, check their wilderness permits, clean up camping spots and do a survey. Being up here is being time-machined back hundreds of years. If it wasn't for the trails and airplanes, there was no trace of humankind. Pure air, pure water, no garbage whatsoever and a beautiful scenery. I am not going to write about what we did during these three days but more of my strong impressions I got in quite moments, when there was only nature and I.
Sitting at the lake shore my eyes fell open and immediately I knew I was not alone. My gaze wandered along the other side of the lake. A rainbow colored meadow of growing grass, fallen tree trunks and a dense pine forrest. At first the subtle movement was imperceptible, but then I saw him. Sitting on a mustang, long black hair and one beautiful eagle feather attached to it. He rode through the trees - one with nature. I had stopped breathing. My heart pounding in my chest, knowing that taking up breathing again will make this image complete. I filled my lungs and started easily steady breathing, feeling this connection to that particular moment and place. To the trees, the lake, the wind, the ground and the warmth.
At night we found, close to our campsite, a little circus of stones, where we cooked our meal and made a little fire for warmth and looking into each others faces. The flames reflection was dancing on the walls and in our eyes, the shadows were running above our heads and granite blocks and telling stories of hunters and pray in the old indian times, when man and nature were living together and depending on each other, where souls were one, and the great spirit dwelled within every living thing. At that moment Danny started to chant - turning his soul inside out, breathing in the smoke and exhaling sounds from long forgotten times, rooted deep within him. I did not see him anymore but the deeply marked face of an old indian chief singing of heroic stories and memory of his own tribe.
On Saturday afternoon I was alone at the camp site reading a book. After an hour of lying motionless in the sun with the book I slowly turned my head randomly to look over my right shoulder and saw something like a dog walking slowly past me about 10m away. My mind was calm thinking « wolf or coyote, wolf or coyote? Danger, or not. Danger or not? He ignored me and for the first time since two days I did not have my phone with me and could not take a photo. Amazing encounter. I followed him for about 500m. But it simply disappeared into the woods, like a spirit, leaving me to wonder if that had really happened.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVDnXQWFMVA
