Erin Sawyer Soper (A Candle In The Wind)

Posted on May 2, 2022 2 Comments

It turned out that fire was one of the most important elements in the Biodesign experience. Typically, every day of our studies at Yosemite and Mendocino ended with a circular celebration around a campfire. Often the combination of heat, light and the transformation of solid wood into gaseous flames served as a metaphor for mental transformation. The rising smoke mingled with the pine-scented air and surpassed the finest incense that is burned in the world’s greatest cathedrals.

We read excerpts from the great Naturalists, sang folk songs, told jokes and funny stories, but also shared reflections of revelations discovered during our days in the wilderness. Erin was shy and I noticed that she sat pensively not participating in the jubilant chatter. I wondered what she was thinking but respected her apparent need for privacy.

All of that changed on our final Yosemite campfire. They had slept under the stars the previous night on top of Half Dome and were basking in a spiritual afterglow. However, when there was a lull in the chatter, she timidly offered, “I like pinecones.” The three words hung in the chilled air and no one seemed to be sure how to process them. My first thought was an attempt at humor, but then I recalled, “still waters run deep.” Erin had a gentle spirit and I suspected that she was experiencing, not only a sensory overload, but channeling John Muir’s frustration when he wrote, “No amount of word-making will ever make a single soul to know these mountains.”

The news of Erin’s transcendence was shocking and reminded me of another of Muir’s aphorisms, only this one conjured up a comment from the Reverend Billy Graham: “Show me a marriage where there are no arguments and I will show you a marriage where one person is not necessary.” During my 60 years of walking and talking with John Muir, we have only had one argument and it involved Muir’s soliloquy on death:

“On no subject are our ideas more warped and pitiable than on death. Instead of sympathy, the friendly union of life and death so apparent in Nature, we are taught that death is an accident, a deplorable punishment for the oldest sin, the archenemy of life, etc. Town children, especially, are steeped in this death-orthodoxy, for the natural beauties of death are seldom seen or taught in towns … But let the children walk with Nature, let them see the beautiful blendings and communions of death and life, their joyous inseparable unity, as taught in woods and meadows, plains and mountains and streams of our blessed star, and they will learn that death is stingless indeed, and as beautiful as life, and the grave has no victory, for it never fights. All is divine harmony.“

Although I fully understand the ecological importance of the circle of life and death, at the personal level, Muir’s philosophy is a total failure. Was he not heartbroken when his beloved Louie Wanda transcended before he did? Did he not experience the same devastation that the eminent scholar, CS Lewis described after the loss of his wife, in his classic book, A Grief Observed.

During our time together, Erin blessed me with the supreme gifts of camping on top of Yosemite’s world-famous Half Dome (when it was still legal) and sharing two nights at Phantom Ranch at the bottom of Grand Canyon. These experiences created the Shakespearean bond; “One touch of Nature and all men are kin.”

Photo: Erin at Irish Pub. Provided by Family.

She was one of the sweetest, most delightful students I have ever encountered. She wore a permanent smile and was not capable of uttering an unkind word. She possessed angelic qualities and will be sorely missed by her family, loved ones and students.

Therefore, I reluctantly bid farewell to Erin, but only for a while. I am looking forward to the Great Biodesign reunion in heaven where:

^“God will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” Rev. 21:4

Lowell H. Young
Author: Biodesign Out For A Walk

Love—Laughter—Playfulness Under Nevada Fall

Posted on November 22, 2021 Leave a Comment

“Heaven knows that John the Baptist was not more eager to get all his fellow sinners into the Jordan than I to baptize all of mine in the beauty of God’s mountains.” – John Muir

No other naturalist, before or after John Muir has reached his lofty status of being able to decipher and communicate the physical, mental and spiritual essences of Yosemite National Park. He could not have known English poet, W.H. Auden, but by writing, “Yosemite is a place to play and a place to pray,” he clearly understood Auden’s premise that “carnival” (the human world of Laughter and Play) is closely related to the world of Worship and Prayer.

Many of the most sacred moments in Biodesign occurred through laughter. Their laughter was of the highest order, showing no signs of being grubby, pornographic, cruel, or mean-spirited. They laughed easily and often, especially at the intimately embarrassing moments that occurred while traveling, hiking and camping together. Their laughter was contagious and healing.

Typically, on warm autumn days, the nearly 5,000 ft. descent from the top of Half Dome to the base camp in Yosemite Valley produced hot and sweaty hikers. A dip in the snow-melt pool beneath Nevada Fall usually offered refreshing relief. On one of visits the guys were the first to jump in. The icy-cold water produced yelps and gasps. One of them asked his buddy; “Are you squinching?” Whether they had heard the term or not, all the guys immediately understood and burst into boisterous belly-laughter. The girls looked on with puzzled expressions. One of them finally asked, “What is “squinching?” This produced more laughter, and finally, one of the guys said, “You should ask Mr. Young.”

I remembered a conversation with a teacher-colleague of mine who spent a summer in France. When I asked about the highlight of her trip, she said, “I was standing in the Louvre, admiring Michelangelo’s statue of David, and I suddenly burst into rapturous laughter. It occurred to me that after God created Adam, he said, ‘Oops, I almost forgot! You will need two of these and one of these.’ The people around me must have thought I was a nut.” I shared her story and said she might be right.

The event provided a natural opportunity to describe, but not explain, one of nature’s most intriguing mysteries. Human embryonic male testicles originate in the same area that ovaries originate in females. During gestation they are programmed to migrate down and out of the lower abdomen. In cases where this does not happen, the organs will not function properly. Apparently, the normal body temperature of 98.6 degrees is too warm for sperm production. The problem was solved by moving them out of the body, allowing them to cool slightly. They can, however, become overly cold, and when this happens, males “squinch.” The scrotum shrinks and draws the testicles close to, or even up into, the lower abdomen. It was too much information for some of the girls, but most joined the guys in hilarious laughter.

Although the event was uproariously funny, at a deeper level it pointed to the quintessential mystery of how every human being began his/her journey on Planet Earth. Against unfathomable odds of time and space, each one of us began during an extraordinarily mysterious moment when one sperm (out of approximately 300 million) united with one egg (out of about 400) to emerge as a once-in-a-universe zygote. Lewis Thomas, MD, author of “Lives Of A Cell,” suggests that the biomolecular mysteries of forming a zygote are so vast and complex that they may remain forever beyond human comprehension; ergo, the miracle of life.

Just like the theoretical impossibility of any two snowflakes being alike, no two humans will ever be identical. Even so-called identical twins are not identical because they begin to affect each other’s behavior very early in their respective embryonic development (epigenesis). People who get to know identical twins often regard them as only slightly more alike than sisters or brothers.

Twenty years after the waterfall event, the world-famous Dahm triplets rocked the scientific world. They opted to have their ancestry analyzed to confirm their Nordic heritage. The results confirmed their theory but revealed a blockbuster clue. All three have British/Irish genes as well as French/German genes. That was not so surprising, but what was intriguing was that each had a different percentage of the minority genes.

It is doubtless that the original sperm and ovum that produced the triplets contained latent genetic information that dated back thousands of years. It is likely that the mitotic process that produced them involved replicating over 1 billion nucleotides, some of which were not transcribed identically. This means that the “identical triplets” are not perfectly identical. This closely relates to Charles Darwin’s discovery of genetic variation which is a key component of evolution.

During the evening, after the momentous event, the students were huddled together around the campfire sharing reflections of their day. One of the girls read from her journal, “I have never felt cleaner in my life!”

Little wonder Muir wanted all of his followers to be baptized in Yosemite’s waterfalls.

Lowell H. Young
Author: Biodesign Out For A Walk

young.lowell@gmail.com

Cosmic Wonders and Wanderings

Posted on July 8, 2020 2 Comments

About fifty years ago, long before I knew what a Jungian synchronicity was, I experienced one that still resonates with me on every clear night. I was the father of a two-year-old daughter and on a whim one evening, after her bath, I took her out to see the stars. At the tender age of two, she seemed perfectly capable of celebrating the mystery and wonder of the Universe.

After that first encounter, we established a nightly ritual. After her Mom bathed, dried, powdered her and tucked her into her sleeper, she was released. She would bound into the living room and launch her little body into my arms, overflowing with enthusiasm and say, “Show me the stars, Daddy!” And so, on every clear night, father and daughter shared the rapture of the Universe.

At the time, neither one of us knew that, 1600 years earlier, St. Augustine shared our passion for the stars. On one of his cosmic visits he pondered: “What did the Universe look like before time was created?” When asked what time is, he responded, “If you ask me I must reply that I do not know, but if you don’t ask, I know that I know.”

This may have been a beautiful manifestation of a typical dialogue between the human right brain and left brain. The right brain can contain wisdom that the left brain cannot quantify: ergo Mystery.

In spite of many boastful claims by many modern-day scientists, the truth of the matter is that St. Augustine’s query has yet to be answered. Scientists claim that the Universe is 14.5 billion years old, but the number may be arbitrary and meaningless, especially if we don’t know what time is. Some creative scientists suggest that the so-called “Big Bang” might be one of an infinite number of “Big Bang” events with each obliterating the evidence of all previous events. If this is true, we may never know where the Universe came from. Or, if the final stage of cosmic entropy is a “Big Gnab” (Bang in reverse), perhaps the Universe will return to a state of absolute nothingness. How intriguing would that be?

What terms like “The Big Bang Theory,” “The Unified Field Theory” and “The String Theory” all have in common is that they are all theories that have yet to be proved. And so scientists are still trapped in the conundrum of a Universe that has been created with no known cause. Of course, they cannot scientifically acknowledge a Supreme Being and therefore many of them scoff at religious beliefs.

They have addressed the oxymoronic dilemma of “matter cannot be created or destroyed” by claiming that quantum mechanics allows for the Universe to be so complex that it made itself out of NOTHING! (Stephen Hawking)

Meanwhile, the recent spike in racial strife and disharmony conjured up a distant memory of an event on top of Yosemite’s famous Half Dome. A Biodesign class was snuggled in a circle under a canopy of stars that were so brilliant that it seemed like we could reach out and pick a basket full. The students resonated with the wisdom of the Universe at a level that would make most astronomers blush. Suddenly, a small female voice quietly asked, “Why do people waste so much time and energy hating each other?” I suspect that every heart stopped briefly and the silence that ensued was absolute. No one had an answer.

I am growing old and 50 years after my first epiphany with my daughter, I go alone on my nightly pilgrimage to commune with the stars. Sometimes I shiver, not because of the cold, but as the racial violence, vitriol and mayhem continue, I seem to be able to identify with the saddest and shortest line in the Holy Bible: “Jesus wept!”

So, in moments such as those, I am grateful for the reminder I know she would give me now that she has raised her own two children. On some level, it’s all still a mystery. And where there is mystery, there is hope. We in the Biodesign class may not have found the answer to the question of why humans choose to hate rather than to love and focus so on our differences when we are all under the same stars in the Universe, but asking the question, exploring the mysteries, looking for truth, beauty and goodness always starts me on the path to peace and joy.

Lowell H. Young
Author: Biodesign Out For A Walk

young.lowell@gmail.com

The Book Whisperer

Posted on April 15, 2020 Leave a Comment

“A spiritual partnership is a partnership between equals for the purpose of spiritual growth. Spiritual partners use their delightful experiences together as well as their power struggles to learn about themselves and change themselves.” – Gary Zukav

Excerpt: Biodesign Out For A Walk, Forward by Linda Williamson.

I now realize that one of the great lessons of Biodesign was learning how a strong marriage works. Christie was, and is, the strength behind the scenes; the wind beneath Lowell Young’s wings.

Linda Williamson is one of my most-admired colleagues who taught at St. Helena High School. As a consummate world traveler, she was keenly aware of the myriad of logistical challenges of moving a group of 40 people from St. Helena to Grand Canyon and back six days later. As a chaperone on one trip to The Canyon, she watched Christie dispatch the tasks with skill and grace.

However, Christie’s role in the Biodesign Program, was metaphorically wider and deeper than Grand Canyon. She is a bibliophile and eventually provided 20-30 books that became the physical—mental—spiritual fabric of what evolved into Biodesign.

One of our Goddaughters is astutely aware of this and dubbed her “The Book Whisperer.” The designation is a soulful sobriquet and bares witness to the fact that Christie has been my personal “Book Whisperer” for nearly 55 years and affirms Linda Williamson’s observation:

Christie was, and is, the strength behind the scenes; the wind beneath Lowell Young’s wings.

The photo was taken 5 years ago at our 50th wedding anniversary. It was celebrated at San Francisco’s, The Golden Mirror Restaurant, the same restaurant I proposed to Christie 56 years ago.

Three years earlier (1961) the Wedding Song was written by Noel Paul Stookey (Peter Paul & Mary) as a gift to be sung at the wedding of his pal and singing partner Peter Yarrow. The song has become legendary and been sung at countless 1000s of weddings.

Although the song was likely inspired by the Gospel of St. Matthew, the magical blend of lyrics and melody can create transcending moments for all who celebrate the mystery and sanctity of marriage.
Christie recently joined Facebook and can be contacted at https://www.facebook.com/christie.young.50702

Lowell H. Young
Author: Biodesign Out For A Walk

young.lowell@gmail.com

John Muir: Reflections Of The Soul In The Sierra Nevada

Posted on January 6, 2020 Leave a Comment

Excerpt: “The Soul Of The World,” by Phil Cousineau/Eric Lawton

“If my soul could get away from this so-called prison, be granted all the attributes generally bestowed on spirits, my first ramble on spirit-wings would not be among the volcanoes of the moon. Nor should I follow the sunbeams to their sources in the sun. I should hover about the beauty of our own good star… my first journeys would be into the inner substance of flowers, and among the folds and mazes of Yosemite’s falls. How grand to move about in the very tissue of falling columns, and in the very birthplace of their heavenly harmonies, looking outward as from windows of ever-varying transparency and staining.” – John Muir

“The soul is the name for the unifying principle, power, or energy that is at the center of our being. To be in touch with soul means going back to the sacred source, the site of life-releasing energy, the activating force of life, the god-grounds; to venture forth and confront the world in all its marvelous and terrifying forces, to make sacred our hours here; to learn to pay such supreme attention to the world that eternity blazes into time with our holy longing. Soul-making, this.” – The Soul Of The World

I suspect that every Nature lover would enjoy having a copy of “The Soul Of The World” in his/her “Nature/Spirituality” library. A used copy, in good condition, can be purchased for merely $5.00 @ Amazon Books:

The book is a veritable cornucopia of philosophies that resonate with the essence of Muir’s life and legacy—a treasure trove of gems of Nature’s wonder and wisdom, which became a primary reference in the Biodesign curriculum. We often began class with a selection from one of over 60 of the world’s great naturalists, including John Muir.

However, Muir did not discover the genre of “eco-spirituality.” Anthropologists claim that the first dim inklings of human spirituality appeared about 100,000 years ago. The Holy Bible includes “The Book Of Psalms,” which is rife with examples of the interrelationships between Nature—God and the human spirit. The earliest Psalm was probably written circa 1400 BC, however, nearly every religion of the world includes similar examples. Some Native American tribes have orally passed down eco-spiritual stories, legends and wisdom for thousands of years.

What Muir did, however, was to share wisdom, prophetic prowess and exultant descriptions gained from his experiences in the wilderness. All of these have made eco-spirituality more relevant in an increasingly materialistic world. He has inspired and encouraged millions of people to become proactive in soul-stretching exercises.

Following Muir’s advice into the pool beneath Yosemite’s Nevada Fall was not my idea. Like many of the creative ideas that became part of the Biodesign experience, a student posed, “If that was the first place Muir would travel on spirit wings, should we not follow his cue?” After their Muir-esque “baptism” many students expressed utter frustration with the lack of descriptive words and concluded that the experience was “transcending.”

Lowell H. Young
Author: Biodesign Out For A Walk

young.lowell@gmail.com

Thanksgiving—Turkeys—Apples—Indian Corn

Posted on November 25, 2019 Leave a Comment

One of the greatest scientific events on Planet Earth was the inception of the biological design of sperm and egg. It should be the source for jubilant thanksgiving, for without them the highest form of life Earth would have been marine or fresh-water green slime.

Excerpt: BOFAW, Chapter 26; “Soul Medicine.”

“While walking in the Mendocino woods, the students came upon a pickup truck with a camper. The back bumper featured a sticker that boldly stated, “Don’t come a-knockin’ if this truck’s a-rockin’.” The boys began to cheer, and the girls said the boys were disgusting. I discovered that the best word that defined the teenage humor gender gap was “disgusting.”

Photo credit: kitchenfloorcrafts.blogspot.com

Once we were discussing the importance of Mendel’s laws of segregation and independent assortment in evolution. I reminded them that a good example was the fact that every corn kernel resulted from a sperm that swam down a silk thread and fertilized an ovum. Gina blurted out, “Mr. Young, ever since you told us that in our sophomore year, I haven’t been able to eat corn; it’s disgusting.”

It can be a fool’s errand to overly anthropomorphize biological organs, but generally the girls were not too pleased when we identified apples as enlarged ovaries.

The turkeys that will grace millions of Thanksgiving tables are distant relatives of the ones Pilgrims feasted on. They have been selectively (and probably artificially) bred so that they have huge breasts and are unable to fly.

I find it fascinating that every turkey, every kernel of corn, every apple and every human being began when a sperm fertilized an egg in a mysterious process that scientists have yet to fully comprehend.

Many people may no longer say grace before their thanksgiving dinner, but the mere existence of sperm and egg should be reason enough for shouts of exaltation and gratefulness.

Lowell H. Young
Author: Biodesign Out For A Walk

young.lowell@gmail.com

Sex Ed in Nevada Fall Pool

Posted on August 27, 2018 Leave a Comment

Excerpt: Biodesign Out For A Walk, chap. 26, “Soul Medicine.”

“Many of the most sacred moments in Biodesign occurred through laughter. Their laughter was of the highest order, showing no sign of being grubby, pornographic, cruel, or mean-spirited. They laughed easily and often, especially at the many intimately embarrassing moments incurred while studying, traveling, and camping together. Their laughter was contagious and healing.

On one of the visits to the pool beneath Yosemite’s Nevada Falls, the guys were the first to jump in. The icy-cold water produced yelps and gasps. One of the guys asked his buddy, “Are you squinching?” Whether they had heard the term or not, all the guys immediately understood and burst into laughter. The girls looked on with puzzled expressions. One of them finally asked, “What is “squinching?” This produced more laughter, and finally, one of the guys said, “You should ask Mr. Young.”

I remembered a conversation with a French teacher-colleague of mine who spent a summer in France. When I asked about the highlight of her trip, she said, “I was standing in the Louvre, admiring Michelangelo’s statue of David, and I suddenly burst into rapturous laughter. It occurred to me that after God created Adam, he said, ‘Oops, I almost forgot! You will need two of these and one of these.’ The people around me must have thought I was a nut.” I shared the story and said she might be right.

The event provided a natural opportunity to describe, but not explain, one of nature’s many bizarre mysteries. Embryonic testicles originate in males in the same area that ovaries originate in females. During gestation, they are programmed to migrate down and out of the lower abdomen. In cases where this does not happen, the organs will not function properly. Apparently, the normal body temperature of 98.6 degrees is too warm. The problem was solved by moving them out of the body, allowing them to cool slightly. They can, however, become overly cold, and when this happens, males “squinch”. The scrotum shrinks and draws the testicles close to, or even up into, the lower abdomen. It was too much information for some of the girls, but most joined the guys in laughter.”

Although the event was uproariously funny, at a deeper level it pointed to the quintessential mystery of how every human being began his/her journey on Earth. Against unfathomable odds of time and space in the universe, each of us began during an extraordinarily mysterious moment when one sperm (out of approximately 300 million) united with one egg (out of about 400) to emerge as a once-in-a universe individual.

Just like the theoretical impossibility of any two snowflakes being alike, no two humans will ever be identical. Even so-called identical twins are not identical because they begin to affect each other’s behavior very early in their respective embryonic development. People who get to know identical twins often regard them as only slightly more alike that sisters or brothers.

“Self-actualization” just might be the spiritual correlation of Archimedes’ principle of buoyancy. If so, when people discover how “fearfully and wonderfully made” they are, they too may be inspired to run down the street yelling “Eureka!” “I have found Me!”

This event would have delighted, but probably not totally surprised naturalist Loren Eiseley who wrote, “If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water.”

Lowell H. Young
Author: Biodesign Out For A Walk

young.lowell@gmail.com

Fiddler On The Roof Delivers Soul Food To St. Helena High School

Posted on March 19, 2018 Leave a Comment

Thank you Patti Coyle and Craig Bond and all the Fantastic Fiddlers.

A legendary cowboy moseyed up to the edge of Grand Canyon, peered into the one-mile-deep chasm and said:

“Something happened here.”

The same can be said about The Fiddler On The Roof performance last Saturday night at The St. Helena Performing Arts Center. Something mystical and equally unexplainable happened!

While basking in the afterglow of the performance, the descriptors soul stirring, magnificent and transformative came to mind. However, they soon yielded to a more quintessential word, perfection. Perfection is not a word that is often used because of our penchant to find flaws in everything we experience. But perfection is what it was. When I consider the thousands of things that could have gone wrong but didn’t, I am convinced that you collectively conjured up a miracle—a miracle! ;o)

And while there may have been a dropped line or two, small blocking missteps, an off note (I didn’t see them) there was some mystical spirit that swept us away to the little village of Anatevka where any blemishes disappeared.

I suspect that the secret of your success may have turned on the word “enthusiasm.” It originates from the Greek language, “spirit-filled.” Combined with the students child-like sense of innocence and compassion, they evinced the overarching qualities of faith, hope and love.

This was not soulless “cookbook acting!” These kids were invested in the story and it was clearly evident by how they interacted with each other and the audience. They looked so healthy and excited to be alive, in the moment.

I taught biology at SHHS for 30 years and in 1979 I had the honor/pleasure of watching Godspell produced by the gifted team of Tom Martin (drama) Marjorie Smith (choreography) and Craig Bond (choral director). Together, they produced a musical the likes of which St. Helena had never seen. My wife and I have attended many of the productions since the Godspell bar was set so high and before Saturday night we wondered if it would ever be equaled. In our opinion, by harmoniously working together, you have added the perfect bookend to that performance. It may have been due to the spiritual theme of both narratives, but each touched audiences at a deeply emotional, perhaps even spiritual level.

We were struck by the simplicity, yet complexity of the set designs and stage logistics. During set changes, you wisely left the curtain open (yet darkened) as if to invite us to watch the magic of creating the scenes that would entrance us. In addition to superb acting and brilliant choreography, the orchestra and lighting were marvelously complementary.

I am sure that if you asked Tevye about the origin of human beings he would say, “The Good book says that women and men are made in the image of God.” I haven’t met Patti, but I suspect that both she and Craig would blush at the thought, however, I’ll bet many of the Fiddler troupe will understand, up-close and-personal, just exactly what that means. They are still young, but when they grow older (and wiser) they may better appreciate the fact that they have been supremely blessed to be guided by geniuses in the dramatic and musical arts. I can imagine that, during the long rehearsal hours, they both pondered Tevye’s words:

What words of wisdom can I give them,
How can I help to ease their way?

During the process, in typical Jewish tradition, they both have given the cast and stage crew spiritual candles to help them find their way. I hope these young adults discover that the best way to return the favor is to light as many candles as they can and become his/her own “Fiddler On The Roof.”

L’Chaim,

Lowell H. Young
Author: Biodesign Out For A Walk

young.lowell@gmail.com

John Wesley Powell—Unfathomable Grand Canyon

Posted on January 28, 2018 Leave a Comment

Zora Hurston (“There Eyes Were Watching God”) is credited with coining the phrase, “You got to go there to know there.” While I have found her axiom to be generally true, it is paradoxically true and untrue regarding Grand Canyon. Although, in order to experience “The Canyon,” one must “go there,” it is humanly impossible to “know there.” It is simply too vast, too deep, too long, too old and too mysterious for the human brain to comprehend. In fact many hikers, who hike to the bottom and back up, emerge blissfully bewildered by their experience.

It is quite likely that the one person who experienced this dilemma the most acutely was John Wesley Powell. Powell belongs to an elite pantheon of explorers who accomplished something that had never been done. Even though he was missing one arm, he successfully led an expedition down a river that was considered unnavigable. Native Americans warned him that he and his crew would be swallowed into the center of the earth. After the three-month odyssey, Powell expressed the futility of trying to capture the spirit of Grand Canyon:

“The wonders of the Grand Canyon cannot be adequately represented in symbols of speech, nor by speech itself. The resources of the graphic art are taxed beyond their powers in attempting to portray its features. Language and illustration combined must fail.”

He arrived at this conclusion after what many seasoned explorers predicted would be a disastrous expedition ending in death and destruction. He and his crew faced odds and challenges that would have made lesser men quail in defeat. The untamed Colorado River meandered 224 miles through a 5000-foot-deep chasm that offered few or no pathways of escape. The combination of roaring water and huge granite boulders produced “standing waves,” some of which approached 35 feet tall. The only way to survive these waves was to tether their specially designed boats and laboriously “rope” them around the potentially lethal obstacles.

They were frequently cold and wet, much of their food had spoiled, there were several near-drownings and they lost one boat. Understandably, Powell’s men were stressed to the breaking point, prompting three of them to agree to abandon the expedition and take their chances of escaping back to civilization.

Powell handled the little mutiny with compassion and dignity. For all he knew they might be right which led to his musing:

“We have an unknown distance yet to run, an unknown river to explore. What falls there are, we know not; what rocks beset the channel, we know not; what walls ride over the river, we know not. Ah, well! we may conjecture many things.”

In profound irony, the next day presented an easily navigable rapid, the last threat to the expedition. The three men were never seen or heard from again.

On a much smaller scale, I identified with the stress that Powell experienced. The Biodesign Class intentionally took high school students in into the uncharted educational wilderness and challenged them to explore their God-given-gifts of soul and spirit. Their discoveries ranged from miraculous, magnificent, even sublime, to stressful, painful and terrifying enough to cause about 3% of them to flee in fear.

Lowell H. Young
Author: Biodesign Out For A Walk

young.lowell@gmail.com

“I CONQUERED YOSEMITE’S HALF DOME!”

Posted on July 11, 2016 Leave a Comment

“Loren Eiseley is less concerned about man conquering nature than nature, in the form of God, conquering the human heart.” Time Magazine.

AFTER nearly 75 years, I have concluded that life is mostly (if not totally) a journey into mystery. E.g. how could I have possibly guessed that a simple, innocent question from a student would eventually guide me to climb Yosemite’s Half Dome over 30 times? Each visit was unique and not unlike meeting a long-lost friend with lots of catching up to do. Intriguingly, most of my trips were with students and seeing Half Dome through their eyes provided some of the most glorious moments of my life.

“I Conquered Half Dome” was the title of a Biodesigner’s post-Yosemite essay, and why not? Tom described the “emotional blood,” sweat and near-blisters that were required for him to hike the 10 miles from Yosemite Stables to the top of Half Dome in one grueling day. The altitude gain was nearly 5,000 ft. and YNPS listed the trail as “extremely strenuous” (and that is without a backpack.) It is a safe bet that his 50-lb. backpack made the trek at least twice as difficult.

Tom meticulously recorded the events of the day including moments of inspiration, and frustration; stops for snacks, water and lunch. He also described the logistical demands of stopping to filter water and apply “Mole Skin” to hotspots before they became debilitating blisters. He noted the high level of camaraderie and playful banter that helped ease the fatigue induced by the steep switchbacks. He marveled at how everyone worked together with the stronger hikers quietly taking sleeping bags or tents from classmates who were struggling excessively.

This hike occurred in the early years of the Biodesign program when the trip was only four days. It involved a 4:00 AM departure and 5-hour drive to Yosemite Valley; one very demanding day to hike to the top of Half Dome to spend the night; one very long day to return to The Valley and the 5-hour return trip home. Due to the very demanding 4-day journey, it was quite reasonable for Tom to feel that he had indeed conquered Half Dome. However, the latter part of his essay took on a very different tone.

He wrote:

“I had never been so exhausted but I could not sleep due to the thousands of rapid-fire mental images of our long hike. Earlier in the evening, we huddled in a circle as you read John Muir’s story about his adventure with the ‘wee little dog Stickeen.’ Muir described their near-death experience in a storm on an Alaskan glacier. The ordeal lasted 18 hours and, although they were cold, wet and exhausted, they were happy to make it back to camp.

Muir wrote:

“We reached camp about ten o’clock, and found a big fire and a big supper. A party of Hoona Indians had visited Mr. Young, bringing a gift of porpoise meat and wild strawberries, and Hunter Joe had brought in a wild goat. But we lay down, too tired to eat much, and soon fell into a troubled sleep. The man who said, ‘The harder the toil, the sweeter the rest,’ never was profoundly tired.”

He continued:

“Before the trip we discussed the geology of Half Dome and I was now aware that I was trying to sleep on rock that was over 100 million years old and was there when dinosaurs roamed the earth and perhaps some bird-like forms flew over Yosemite Valley.

I finally gave up trying to sleep and grabbed my flashlight and down jacket. I moseyed out to the “Eye Brow” and carefully dangled my legs over the edge. Interestingly, due to the darkness, the 5,000-foot drop was not as scary as in the daylight. I remembered you saying that Native Americans and “mountain men” could tell time using the “handle” of “The Big Dipper.” I was facing north and looked up to see the giant cosmic-hour-hand above me. And then, IT HAPPENED! A massive surge of adrenaline super-activated every nerve in my body. I was ecstatic, but it was not sublime. I was paradoxically exhilarated, but terrified and quickly began to suffer a panic attack. I could not move! I thought, ‘This is not a good place to be in the middle of the night.’ The panic seemed interminable, but either God or my “reptilian brain” took over and I noticed my hands and thighs slowly begin to inch my body back from the edge. When I stood, I was badly shaken and, with wobbly knees, returned to my sleeping bag.

If I live to be 100 years old, I will never feel the same degree of warmth, safety and comfort that my sleeping bag provided. And then the second major epiphany occurred! What a fool I was to think that I had “conquered” Half Dome! God, Mother Nature or karma allowed me to ascend Half Dome, however; there is still enough mystery and intrigue to last another 100 million years.”

At the youthful age of 17, Tom discovered that he was being conquered and not the conqueror, something more and more people will live and die without discovering.

I don’t think it is elitist for people who have climbed to the top of Half Dome to recalibrate their personal biography into “Pre-H-D” and “Post-H-D.” I don’t think it is possible to climb Half Dome and not have a life-changing experience, however, as John Muir noted about spiritual revelations, there are no earthly words to define them.

Lowell H. Young
Author: Biodesign Out For A Walk

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