You can run but you cannot hide ~ a Bus
By James Beard aka Noodin
Saturdays are really busy on Mt Monadnock. Hikers come from all over the world to walk her
trails and see the beautiful views from the summit. The particular Saturday I remember is when I opened the park. Our regular hikers start showing up around seven or eight o:clock and we greet each one as they come in. At about nine o:clock one of our regulars mentioned that he saw a large tour bus headed up Rte 202 and wondered if it was on the way here to the park. I told him no buses were scheduled and that we normally do not allow buses on Saturdays because of the amount of traffic and limited parking. We started watching for the bus, knowing it woud be coming when we received a radio call from the Old Tow Road entry. Taylor called over to let us know a bus had passed her entry traveling toward Marlboro, NH.
So the bus was not headed toward the park! Well, kinda not headed toward the park. A few minutes later we got a radio call from Taylor indicating that one of the resident neighbors was at her gate and complaining that a large bus had stopped in front of his home and let out about fifty people who crossed his land and started up the mountain. The manager came by our toll booth at about that time and we determined that we should intercept them along the trail and let them know they need to use the entry as well as pay the hiker fee at the park. I suggested to the manager that I could go over to the Old Tol Road entry and help out. She said that would be fine and off I went.
When I arrived at the Old Toll Road one of the rangers had already gone up the mountain to look for the errant hikers. Taylor was still at the booth and told me that our neighbor resident was really mad and gave her a hard time.
I asked her to describe the man. She told me he was middle aged with a grey beard and long hair. I had a feeling that I knew who she was describing. A year before one of trucks broke down in front of a neighbors house. We had to leave the truck to be towed and this neighbor was less than friendly about it. Then I decided to take a ride over to his place.
As I thought might be the case, there in front of his place was a huge tour bus parked along side of the road. I went up to the bus and tapped on the window. Pretty soon the driver came to the door. I introduced myself and asked if he had let people off at that place to climb the mountain. He said he knew this was not right and tried to tell the tour guide that. When he passed the sign for the park entry he figured something was funny. He told me the tour guide told him that the guide knew what he was doing and to just follow instructions.
I replied to him; “Well, you have two choices. You can stay here and the Marlboro Police will be by in a few minutes to give you a huge ticket for parking here, or, you can follow me back to headquarters and wait for your passengers there.”
The bus driver did not have to think too hard on that one. Soon the bus was following me back up to the main entry of the park to wait for his passengers. The hikers were intercepted and told to come down to headquarters after the hike to pay the fees and depart on their bus.
After a few hours we received a call from Taylor at the Old Toll Road. The hikers had come down
to that entry and the tour guide insisted that we send the bus over to pick them up. The park manager came on the radio and told Taylor to tell the tour guide that the bus would be sent over when we had confirmation that the fees had been paid. The total fee for all of the hikers came to $100.00 for twenty hikers. The tour guide complained a little more but finally relented and paid the hiking fee. The bus was sent over and all was good.
All of the tour guides I have encountered that come to the mountain are happy to pay the fee. They understand that the park is maintaining trails, facilities and patrolling the mountain to help hikers as well as protecting the mountain. It is rare for someone to go to such extremes to avoid supporting the park.
By James Beard aka Noodin
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story #5
A better way to educate our youth?
I'll Tell You a Story !
by James Beard aka Noodin
Young people come to the mountain to meet a story teller called Noodin at the Hikers Cabin and to hear a story.
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Hikers Cabib, White Dot Trail
Grand Monadnock |
Twelve high school youth with two teachers knock on the door. The door opens and each person files into the large open room. As they enter they are looking around with a caution and natural curiosity. They see strange items laid out on the table and around the fireplace. They have entered a different world!
You know the youth are glad to be out of school. It is obvious they are taken with going to the Grand Monadnock Mountain in southwestern New Hampshire in the middle of the winter. Walking up the snow bound trail from the White Dot trailhead to the hikers cabin is beautiful in the serenity of the forest, the mountain and the winter snow. It is a gray, cold and overcast day and yet the quietness of the forest is enchanting and holds its own beauty.
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| James Beard aka Noodin |
The fire is giving an ambiance of comfort and a minimum of heat in the large hearth. It crackles now and then just to keep everyones attention. The building is not insulated and does not hold the heat well. The room is comfortable and has a warm welcoming feel even if it is a little on the chilly side. After all, it is ten degrees outside. Everyone sits in a circle with the fireplace taking one side of the circle. This is the home of Noodin at Monadnock State Park.
What is that strange smell? A girl asks. That is sage, I answer. My name is Jim Beard in English. My name in the native language of my teachers is Noodin. I am an adopted one to these people and have been given some things by them to share with you.
I pick up a shell with leaves of sage burning and walk around the circle allowing each person to take a wiff of the pungent aroma of the sage. Sage is used by Native American people to open any gathering, I explain. They use it to invite good spirits and feelings of the people and to bring everyone in the gathering to a oneness in focusing. After walking around the circle I put the shell containing the burning sage on the floor in the middle of the circle.
Hold this for me, I say to a boy as I hand him a drum. He looks at it and feels the tightness of the Elk Hide on the drum. He looks at the way the Elk cord is tied to hold the drum together. I then hand a shaker to a girl in the circle. This is called a shizigwan I tell her. Shizigwan means shaker.
I will tell you a story and we will need these things in the story, I explain. The story is of the creation of all things and the connection of all things of the universe. As I tell the story there is not a sound other than the words of the story, the drum and the shaker. It is an ancient oral teaching of the people. Not to be written down but passed from one to another through all time.
We are all connected to all that is and to one another. It is our responsibility to care for one another and all that we know. To be respectful to all that is.
There are many items on the table by the door. You can look at them before you leave and I will answer any questions I can about them.
We are sitting in a circle.
I explain to them; No one in the circle is above another or below. We all are equal in the creation. That I share in the circle does not put me above or below. Your teachers sitting in the circle are at one with you. Not above and not below. Native people use the circle to teach that we are all equal and should be right size with one another. A feather will be passed around. Each person will have the opportunity to speak when handed the feather. You can say whatever you feel called to say and no one may speak other than the one holding the feather. When you have finished saying what you have to share then you pass the feather to the next person.
Each person speaks in turn as the feather travels around the circle. The first time only a few words are spoken hesitantly by the youth. The feather travels again and the group opens up. The people share their hardships and concerns and gratitude’s. All of the people in the circle respect the feather and no one speaks out of turn. One can feel the sense of healing in the circle. Tensions dissappear and a feeling of oneness and relaxation begins to fill the room.
As they leave the cabin each one is welcomed to return whenever they wish. I know that I will see many of them again over time when they come to visit Grand Monadnock Mountain and the Hikers Cabin.
By: James Beard aka Noodin
