visit in the night

I paddled the Milk River in southern Alberta by myself.  I left Haida Gwaii and drove two long days under sodden skies to reach the small ranching community named for the river.  When I arrived, the clouds opened and the strong desert sun drew the waters from the ground as mist.

The geology of this area is very curious.  Wind and rain have cut the sedimentary stone into “hoodoos,” strange rock formations that stand out of the desert floor like patches of huge mushrooms or perhaps villages inhabited by mystical creatures.

This area has been seen as sacred for thousands of years.  Over that time untold numbers of people have made the pilgrimage to this sacred place, each for their own reasons.

When I arrived, I made an offering of tobacco to honour the ancestors.  Each time I stopped along the river I repeated the ritual to show respect.  At the end of the first day I passed a green community campground and pitched my tent instead on the wild sage and scrub.  I still hadn’t quite arrived.   When I awoke in the cold desert night to take a pee, I looked skyward and was awestruck by the milky heavens awash with a billion stars.  After that moment I felt  present and “of the land.”

I had to work very hard my second day.  Paddling alone requires attention.  The river was low and full of rocks.  Many times I scouted the best route from the shore.  More than once my canoe stuck on boulders I had not avoided.  I took no pictures.

By the afternoon I was exhausted by the difficult paddling and the hot desert sun.  When I arrived at “Poverty Rock” I made my offering of tobacco then I set up my camp.  “Poverty Rock” stands out of the river flood plain like a temple.  The energy there is very intense.  Petroglyphs and carvings in the soft sandstone cliffs are evidence of a thousand special journeys like mine

I walked out of the valley and onto the plain at sunset.  With every foot-fall I felt my connection to the land.  At first my nose was full of the smell of sage on the wind.  When the wind shifted it carried the smell of cattle.

I awoke in the night.  A warm wind gently slapped the walls of my tent.  The energy that surrounded me was very strong, benevolent and tender.  The ancestors had come.  They cared for me that night as I slept.  They blessed me with their approval.  When I broke camp in the morning and made my way down the river I felt as clear as the waters that bore me on my way.