I was very young and living in San Francisco/Berkley; my friends decided to go visit some folks in Chico which is at the base of the Sierra. This was exciting, because the more of the country I could see the happier I was.

When we got there someone had the bright idea to go hiking down to the salmon ladder that was on Little Bear Creek. I am not really a hiker. I love to explore woods and that kind of thing, but climbing mountains is not my idea of fun. However, my friends prevailed and off we went. I was wearing sandals, so I took them off to climb because it seemed that I would get a better purchase on the rocks as we climbed barefoot toward the salmon ladder. It was not an easy climb down for me or some of my friends who also were not wearing proper shoes, but it was beautiful. After awhile I forgot about my bleeding feet and just went with it.

We got down to the ladder and it was unbelievable. The salmon were not running and the creek was flowing rapidly up over flat rocks worn smooth by ions of water. We all claimed a rock and settled down to recover from the climb. The feeling was ethereal, lying on the flat rock water running over me, sun dappling down through the canopy of trees on either side of the creek.

I began to feel the air stir as if little fans were cooling me. My eyes were closed as I tried to just feel being there. The air began to stir more and I felt little dots of pressure over my body. I looked to see the air filled with monarch butterflies so thick you could see nothing but a sea of yellow, orange and black. Immediately I was in awe of the fact that I was actually there seeing this phenomenon of nature. It forever changed my life. I never saw nature in the same way after that.

Years later I wrote a poem:

Clouds pass over the courtyard
changing us slightly as they glide by
cool ghosts from the sea

Many experiences, much more subtle than my butterfly adventure happen to us all the time. I feel that the butterflies, so unexpected, such a gift, awakened me to the more illussive gifts that we are constantly given. One of my favorites is how the colors change just before a rain. Have you noticed…everything seems alive from within and glows with such radiant green and the flowers stand apart from everything else.

It was an honor to see the butterflies and an honor still to notice when a cloud passes over me and the temperature shifts slightly or the green before a rain explodes my consciousness. I am so delighted when I meet someone who sees the same things or after talking about it will see them from then on.

Tags: chico, environment, Little Bear Creek, monarch butterfly, nature, salmon ladder, sierra, Sierras