At Coyote's Cupboard on a Sad Winter Day

Thomas Doty – Storyteller

Image.

In mid January, it is rare for me to visit the caves around the one I call Coyote's Cupboard without snowshoeing in. Usually by now this maze of lava tubes is buried deep in snow. But not today. After the emotional road I've been careening down the past few hours, it is good for me to slow down and visit this place of my childhood. And heal. I first came here in April of 1964, and I have sauntered in every few months of every year ever since. Each trek is a new narrative and I add it to my store of memories and stories as a vision quester adds stones to a cairn. I am sad today, but here, wandering among pines and sage, is a good place to be ... a good place to pause.... Winter birdsongs are distinct and beautiful, and my old friends the Rock People seem happy to see me.