The Yosemite Bear Hat

I think it was about 10 years ago now and my wife and I were visiting Yosemite Valley with our daughter so she must have been about 7 then. I was looking at baseball type caps to wear to protect my nose and face from the sun because I had a squamish cell cancer removed from the side of my nose in 1995. So, I was advised by my dermatologist to wear a hat whenever I was in the sun. So, I was looking for a hat to buy for when I was out in the sun. I saw a hat that looked interesting but it wasn't one I normally would have chosen. I heard "Charlie Thom's voice" in my head saying, "Buy this navy blue one with the red Bear on the front of it." Because Charlie had been my friend and one of my teachers for some time I honored his wishes.

Today, I wore this cap in honor of him as I walked the dogs as he is now gone. I felt once again empowered by his natural ecological spirit with his training that goes back thousands of years from his tribal heritage and lineage of long term spiritual and physical survival ongoing. As I walked my dogs in the forest today I felt his spirit there helping me better understand nature in all it's forms both in the physical and in the spirit.

One day years ago now I had asked him because I had had an experience where the rocks at the ocean spoke to me and I felt a little strange about that. He said, "Oh. You mean the Rock people. We put the rock people into our sweat lodges after we put them in the fire to warm the sweat lodges up. They have spoken to my people for thousands of years."

Just with that one thing he said he put my mind at ease and made me realize I was a part of a truly American Tradition now in what I was studying that actually went back unbroken for thousands of years already here in the U.S.

When I had been at the ocean before this I had been depressed and the rocks on the cliff I was standing on began to speak to me to keep me from doing anything I shouldn't. They said something like, "You humans are like our children. We live for millions of years but sometimes we don't move too much. So, we watch you move around for entertainment as you wear different clothes and say different things in different generations. So, you humans and animals and birds and trees and bushes are like our children that we watch over. Reality is very different for us than for you because we go on living millions of years. So, you are like blades of grass to us that are here and then you are gone in less than 100 years usually. So, we watch over all of you like our children and try to shelter you from the storms so you can go on living. You are interdependent with us even though you might not always realize it." This was a completely amazing experience for me as I hadn't had exactly this type of experience with the rocks of a cliff before this. Charlie cleared up the mystery for me when he talked about his people having this experience too for thousands of years already.