Bear Lake Journeys Blog

“The earth is all that lasts.The earth is what I speak to whenI do not understand my lifeNor why I am not heard.The earth answers me with the same songThat it sang for my fathers whenTheir tears covered up the sun.The earth sings a song of gladness.The earth sings a…

“You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body    love what it loves. Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you…

“A seed’s a star; a star’s a seed.” — Stevie Wonder Consider the seed.  Nature’s full potential resting in perfect form: a self-contained miracle of creation.  A seed contains all of the genetic programming necessary to direct its development towards an exact reproduction of its parent plant.  Its astonishing potential…

“Things work out best for those who make the best of how things work out.” — John Wooden As the late afternoon put a gray lid on the Little Bear Lake basin, we were contemplating the unappetizing contents of our saggy, baggy backpacks.  The first spatters of raindrops dampened our…

“True freedom comes from helping yourself and others to improve their lives; not from rivalry or jealous conquest.”   — Landis The next morning, we were ready to explore Little Bear Lake properly, to make up for our late arrival the day before.  A well-worn path ran through our campsite,…

“If we surrendered to the earth’s intelligence, we could rise up rooted, like trees.”   — Rainer Maria Rilke When I first laid eyes on Little Bear Lake, it was a bird’s eye view from heaven.  It was about a third the size of Big Bear, and much darker blue-green…

“In the mountains, you are sometimes invited, sometimes tolerated, and sometimes told to go home.” — Fred Beckey Going back to Big Bear Lake was never really on my mind again until I reached High School.  My parents had gone through a messy divorce, and we had other things to…

(Image Above) Map Showing the Distribution of the Indian Tribes of California (detail, annotated), U.S. Dept. of the Interior, 1877 “All life is sacred.  We come into Life as sacred beings.When we abuse the sacredness of Life we affect all Creation.” — Chief Arvol Looking Horse The Wintun Nation The…

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” — Marcel Proust “There has to be a lake up here somewhere,” I squeaked to Judy between short gasps on the trail, trying unsuccessfully to suppress the now-insistent whine in my voice. “Dad’s up…

“If we could but see the miracleof a single flower clearly,our whole life would change.” — Buddha The trailhead began off the Bear Creek Loop a few miles north of our campground, where Bear Creek flows into the Trinity River.  So it was get up, wash up, pack up, keep…

“Every act of suffering, no matter how small or agonizingly great, is a test of love in some way.” — Gregory David Roberts The first time I saw Big Bear Lake, I was not quite 12 years old, and angry with my father.  Brooding resentment dominated my feeling at the…