Journey to Mojave Desert (part 3)

Continuing the Journey from the Mojave Desert in Northern Arizona on to Death Valley, we spent a day going to the Racetrack Playa.  Before we left for the trip to the Playa some in the Group or Grandmother Parisha herself had two stories to share.

One was of a man who had stayed at the same hotel where we were all staying.  He had been told before going out hiking that he needed to sign himself out of the hotel and sign himself back in upon his return.  His journey took him out to the Playa where he spent the afternoon.  Or so he thought.  On his return trip he ran into two Park Rangers who asked his name.  He told them and the Rangers said they were glad he had been found.  He said, "what do you mean, "found".  I was only gone for an afternoon."  The Rangers looked at one another and said, "come with us".  They took the man back to the hotel and showed him the book with his signature and the date where he had signed himself out to go on his 'afternoon' trip.  The date was 3 days later.

The Rangers said that there have been many people who have taken trips to the Racetrack Playa and have never been seen nor heard from since.  They told this man they thought he was going to be one of them.  The man was absolutely amazed.

Another person, a man I think, said he went to the Playa, found a rock to sit on so he could draw and before he climbed up on the rock, he took off his shoes.  When he went to get off the rock, his shoes were about 15 feet away from the rock.  The rock had moved with him on it and he never felt a thing.

We got to the Playa mid-afternoon.  Many of us walked out to the Bandstand, a group of rocks in the middle of the flat expanse of hard-packed mud.  Time moved quickly and it was time to go as dark was upon us.  Most of the people had already returned.  We were sitting in our cars waiting for one other.  It was now dark.  Grandmother PaRisHa sent someone out to get the one person whom, we could tell, was just walking across the expanse from the rock back toward the vehicles.  She said she thought she had only been out there for 15 to 20 minutes when in fact about 2 hours had passed.

I breathed a little easier once we got back to the hotel.

Mojave Desert Journey (cont'd)

The first day in the Mojave Desert in Northern Arizona on the Western side of the Grand Canyon ended with the big black sky filled with billions of tiny points of light and one larger moving light with two smaller lights moving eratically away from it.

I wish I could say I slept soundly but I couldn't sleep.  I woke up sometime in the middle of the night to the sound of coyotes howling in the distance and then moving very near my tent.  They were sniffing around our tents and camp.  To hear the sound of coyotes and know that nothing really stood between them and us but a piece of thin fabric was a little 'un-nerving'. 

Grandmother Pa'Ris'Ha had heard them and she came out of her abode and sat all night at the campfire to let them know they were not welcome.  When I saw her there I wanted to go out and keep her company.  I've always enjoyed her wisdom and her laughter and just being around her is like a healing balm to the soul; but I was so tired and needed to sleep because I knew the coming day would be full.

And it was.  I remember the wind had picked up and blew so hard it felt like being hit continuously with sandpaper.  We all gathered early and said morning prayers and had breakfast.  Each day was different and fun and full of teachings.  We lived quite simply with nature and the elements.  We visited the Grand Canyon and traveled and learned and laughed and worked together for several days. 

Then we traveled to Death Valley and stayed the remainder of our days there.  We went to what is known as the Racetrack Playa which you can read all about here: http://www.desertusa.com/mag99/july/stories/race1.html
On the way we stopped on roads that had just recently been washed out because of all the rain.  At one point we stopped and everyone was picking up the beautiful stones that made up the terrain.  We saw big cat footprints and Grandmother warned to stay close to the vehicles because a Mountain Lion was in the area.  While we were picking up stones I saw Grandmother Parisha looking out toward some hills in the distance.  I looked in the direction she was looking in and saw rain in the distance.  It looked as though the clouds of moisture were moving up from the earth but I wasn't sure of what I was looking at.  Later she said the moisture was moving up away from the earth and back to the clouds because we would be traveling there and it would be impossible to travel those roads in the condition they were in, so the Grandmothers and Grandfathers were preparing the way for us by making the route accessible.

Later, when we were traveling the 26 mile dirt road into the Playa, we stopped and spoke to a man in a jeep who had just ventured the rocky, slippery dirt entrance.  He said he didn't know how we got back to the Playa, as the terrain was so covered with water from the recent rains.  He said it was amazing that we were able to get to the Playa at all.