Remnants

“The more you know, the less you need.” 

― Yvon Chouinard, Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman

Today, I was out for the first run in Tru Grit – carefully put my St Croix rod and reel in the bed wrapped in an old sleeping bag and grabbed a Clif bar and Mountain Dew for the road! Headed up to the 4H trout pond which would take me through the Sundance Grounds of the Crow people. I drove out of the sunshine and into the clouds literally and figuratively.

Shrouded in clouds I came down the trail and into a large grassy plain – the Wolf Mountains hold this small valley sacred for the Crow. I stop and walk the grounds and see if they left anything behind. Two playing cards buried in the grass, tobacco offerings, bright colored strips of cloth snap in the crisp wind while ropes that suspended the supplicants still tied to the tree. The whole of the grounds were quiet, sacred, holy  – and I mused “what better way to spend Sunday morning church”.

I picked sage and bundled it together and remembered the Sundance Holy Water I drank that had been blessed here…

I am content with my old truck, Nikon camera, and old Mojo driving the backroads of the Crow Reservation looking for remnants of a time long past. Enjoy my day…

Related articles

• Sundance Holy Water (oldironadventure.com)
• Yvon Chouinard, Founder of Patagonia (swiss-miss.com)
• Interview with Yvon Chouinard (swiss-miss.com)