Spirits Of The Canyon

In good weather, my youngest brother takes Mom and me for rides out around the countryside. One of my favorite drives to take is up through Spirit Canyon, just beyond Chilcoot, California. Downtown Chilcoot, all four corners of it, has the best little store that has been there since we can remember. We always stop there on our way to pick up snacks and beverages to add to our picnic before we head up through Spirit Canyon and Frenchman's Lake beyond.

Going through Spirit Canyon is like taking a trip back several hundred years or more, to the days when only animals, then much later, the Maidu tribes of California roamed the mountains. It is a winding, narrow two lane road that curves up and around some of the most beautiful rock formations I have ever seen -- they look like ancient castles.
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The rocks were high above us, some stretching up so high the tops could not be seen

We stopped and got out of the car, staring in awe at the mysterious and beautiful rock formations

Brother had found a small space along side the road to pull into -- it was a clear day, the sky so blue, the clear, cold water of the mountain creek, bubbling and gurgling so cheerfully

It was the end of summer, autumn colors already coming out in some of the brush

Standing near the creek, in the shade of the towering rocks above, I felt small and meek

The air was much cooler than in the sunshine and I shivered

It was so quiet, we were early and no other cars on the road ... it is Spirit Canyon, I was told

Gazing at the beauty, taking pictures, listening to the water rush down the mountain side

I felt the presence of spirit all around me... of Nature's creatures which I could not see

Bears looking for berries, lizards scurrying in and out of the crevices in the rock

Cougar screaming from the top of castle-like rocky towers -- listening to sounds of the past I wanted to stay for hours

Hawk flew overhead, screeching at his partner too far away ... follow me, follow me he seemed to say, and she soared up higher to be near him

They circled in unison, high above... it was so graceful, like a dance of love

Something they spotted with vision so keen, then dove down, one on each side of the circle they had flown, dropping fast till they disappeared behind a tower of stone

Faces in the rocks, looking down at me -- what are they thinking, what do they see?

So many small caves in the rocks, like windows in ancient castles ... were spirits of the Maidu inside there, within the age-old walls, watching me, listening to Hawk and Cougar calls?

They once roamed these mountains, in the distant past, gathering berries, nuts, roots and herbs to last ... last through the cold months to come

When snows shut off the canyon to all but Cougar and Hawk

Whispers ... whispers of those who were cautious to not be detected by dangers, whispers linger and drift, echo from the rocks, flow down the bubbling creek and fade away in the misty foam

Footsteps of human and animal, so lightly tread on Mother Earth, long before the road came through, long before the birth... the birth of new generations and things to come

So much of life within these canyon walls, have left traces and sounds that linger and echo through the halls.

Grandmother Moon, when you make your journey through here at night, what do you hear, what do you see in your light?

For eons you have watched as the peoples slept, and the night creatures crept, through this canyon so old ... you have seen much and have great stories to be told

Yet silent you are, like each shining star, that gazes down upon this land of beauty

All that I see here holds the secrets of so many ages, of birth, death, and growing stages

The Hawk knows and sees all, then takes his message up to Eagle, who carries it higher to Creator above

And Creator looks down and blesses all with love

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© Content Copyright Phyllis Doyle Burns 2012. All Rights Reserved.

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