Our Father’s Day gift to our expedition leader took a decidedly cryptozoological turn, a “Hooray for Cryptozoology” tee-shirt (threadless.com) from the International Cryptozoology Museum.Wisdom Quarterly is going to the Yosemite Highlands to commune with nature in search of bhummi-devas (nature spirits, dryads) and their elusive companions the California Yeti, our native Sasquatch.
The indigenous Indians in the area were well aware of its existence all the way down to Mono Lake. We'll be staying in a yurt to ensure we're close to the forest and able to hear it, led by our friend Melissa's father, who is part Miwok.
Native rock art of shamans, who created them as power points with celestial and animal references. They are scattered all over the Great Basin including Yosemite and the Hetch Hetchy Valley, which were once Paiute Indian areas.
These beings in Buddhist cosmology hold woodland power and possibly answers. Even if the Sierra Madre mountain range reveals nothing but misty emanations of light by granite-and-gold encrusted stones, streams, and placid Lake Tenaya, it will be an adventure to rival trekking in the Himalayas.