I saw something on the mountain that I had never seen before. First of all, I grew up in the Sonoran Desert. I spent my whole childhood interacting with the native wildlife. Everywhere I walk, I’m looking for rattlesnakes – and I might not know the name of every bush and berry, but I know the desert. I know it on a personal level.
So recently, I woke up early for qi gong practice. I walked into the desert on a cool morning. The sun had not fully crested over the mountains. As I walked towards the crags and hills, a herd of white tail deer bounded off to the north. Three females. The morning felt vibrant with life, with birds singing in all the trees.
I approached my qi gong place: a higher slope that overlooked a narrow mesquite bosque in a wash. Beyond the mesquite trees stood a sharp hill with various boulders and brush. I began holding my qi gong postures. Then, on top of the rocky hill in front of me – I saw something move.
At first I thought, “another deer,” and I watched, but what I was looking at was no deer. It was black and large – approaching the size of a deer – and this black shape moved fast. It bounded down the rocks of the mountain, heading straight towards me. I froze. This large black thing barelled towards me and I couldn’t even get a good look at it. It moved so fast.
“That’s no deer, that’s a bear,” I said. Bears are rare in my neighborhood. Neighbors have reported them before, but I’d never seen one in the area, because we aren’t so high up in the mountains. Even as I said that, I have no idea what I saw. It moved with agility over the rocks like a mountain lion – but it was the wrong color. Coyotes can be black, but it looked bigger than that. It didn’t act or look like a javalina.
When the animal hit the tree-line in front of me, it dissapeared. I watched for a second, planning what I would do if it came crashing straight towards me. Then I saw it navigating through the mesquite bosque, appearing only in patches through the trees that obscured it. It headed south and away from my sight. I never got a good look at it.
I’ve met a lot of people who seem to think the world is all figured out – that there is a clear and easy explanation for everything. I’ve also met people who have had experiences that go beyond simple and ordinary explanations (I am one of those people.) I’m not sure what that large black creaturewas. It could have been a bear that had crawled down from the mountains – or it could have been something else.
In any case, it reminded me that the world is full of mystery. There’s always more. And when we figure those things out, there’s another mystery. No matter how much we think we know, there is always more. I’ve lived close to the desert land for most of my life and I still see things that surprise me. It’s true too that the strangeness of this story doesn’t compare to many other things I’ve heard (and experienced.)
I waited with baited breath for that black shape to appear again – it did not. After twenty minutes, I heard a strange rasping noise from the nearby trees, something like a harsh squeal. It was clearly an animal, but I couldn’t place it. I continued with my qi gong exercises, in awe at the depth of the world around me.