LAND+OBJECT Travel: Pecos Wilderness
Sheyenne Sky and Darrah Blackwater's Overnight Wilderness Adventure, PART 1
In this travelogue, LAND+OBJECT founder, Sheyenne Sky sets out on an overnight wilderness adventure with Diné Sovereignty advocate and hiking enthusiast, Darrah Blackwater, to rediscover the magical relationship between people, animals, and land.
If I could summarize the entire story of my hike in one little glimpse: I picture Darrah sitting in our little two-person tent vlogging at the end of the day saying, “The word of the day is… bilateral stimulation.”
This is a term we discussed on the trail that describes activities that stimulate both the left and right hemispheres of the brain which naturally causes a sense of relaxation. This can include walking, running, hiking, swimming, knitting, weaving, and much more.
While the term has only recently emerged in modern therapeutic settings, understanding of the anxiety-relieving effects of such activities has been integrated into lifeways around the world as a tried-and-true method to achieve balanced living.
To Diné people, running is intentionally woven into our stories and our ways of life. Our tradition of running spans back to the time before colonization, when we traveled by foot within our four sacred mountains. The act of running ceremoniously plays a major role in one’s ability to gain or maintain Hózhó (peace, balance, harmony, and beauty). For example, when a young Diné woman has her kinaalda ceremony, she must go on a long run early in the morning.
Similarly, walking is referenced in the Diné healing prayer, Hózhó Naashá.
In beauty may I walk;
All day long may I walk;
Through the returning seasons may I walk.
Beautifully will I possess again
Beautifully birds
Beautifully butterflies…
On the trail marked with pollen may I walk;
With grasshoppers about my feet may I walk;
With dew around my feet may I walk.With beauty before me may I walk
With beauty behind me may I walk
With beauty above me may I walk
With beauty all around me,
may I walk.In old age, wandering on a trail of beauty, lively;
In old age, wandering on a trail of beauty, living again…
It is finished in beauty.
It is finished in beauty.
These concepts are incomplete if not experienced in the appropriate setting and spoken in Diné Bizaad. I, personally, believe another part of the nuanced spiritual importance of running and walking lies (lol) in the practice of circumambulation, “to walk a circle around” in Latin. This refers to the widespread ritualistic practice of walking or running with spiritual intention. If you think of yourself as a battery, the idea is that walking or running can charge a goal that you set.
I had been feeling quite stressed after preparing for the centennial Indian Market event so Darrah helped me accomplish my Summer 2022 Goal: Complete an overnight wilderness hike for the first time. Darrah is a badass hiking enthusiast who has successfully completed hundreds of excursions in the US and abroad, some as long as 4 months! So not only was I fortunate enough to be joined by another Diné Asdzáán but her knowledge and experience in hiking seriously made me feel at ease.
Darrah decided that the best destination, considering that I wanted a bit of a challenge, would be Lake Kathrine right outside of Santa Fe in the Pecos Wilderness. She explained that the hike would be a peppy 7.5 miles in & smooth 7.5 miles out with over 3,000 ft of elevation gain in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and a peak towering in at over 11,500 ft.
It was a great time for me to go hiking because I was mentally prepared to keep moving forward no matter how many stops I would have to take or how heavy my pack felt. My intention for the hike was to recharge my spirit and reconnect with the higher purpose that I seek to explore with LAND+OBJECT. Hiking was a perfect way to do this because it would allow me to disconnect from the man-made world we normally live in. I was excited to immerse myself in Nature to truly appreciate the magical and symbiotic relationship between people, animals, and land.
The morning of the hike, Darrah helped me unpack and repack my massive hiking bag and we set off around 10:30 am. For an informal camel vs. cotton experiment, I wore regular cotton socks on the way in, as my control. My idea was to see how long it would take until I absolutely needed warm socks at night. Then, I could assess how the camel socks felt while hiking for the entire following day.
Right away on the trail, I was surprised to see so many older folks on their way back from crushing long-distance solo morning hikes. It opened my eyes to how awesome it must be to have stayed fit into old age. It also reminded me of a quote my boyfriend, Ofuskie, once told me: “A healthy person can dream of doing anything, but someone who is unhealthy only dreams of one thing.”
What a great experience this must have been. I have always loved the solitude of the outdoors and the wonderment of nature.