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Bear Medicine 2008

May 2 - 15, 2008

Go Native America is included in this year's National Geographic Traveler's 50 Tours Of A Lifetime

Journey into the realm of the bear on this incredible trail into the physical and spiritual significance of the bear to the Plains Indians. A great healer, a potent symbol of power, a guardian and a grandfather who can engender fear - the bear is all of these and more.

Through traditional stories and explanations, and by actually entering the grizzly bear's domain we learn of the power and gifts he brings to the people.

Past Tour Members Say...

"I wanted to thank you for a wonderful trip. It was the best trip I have ever taken and I sincerely mean that."

Gail Heathcote, Michigan, USA

I would like to say how much I enjoyed the trip. Our guide was excellent; knowledgeable, flexible and entertaining. In fact, all the people we met were so welcoming and interested in why we were there and what we were doing. At the various reservations, the teachers and officials willingly gave their time to talk to us and take us around.

Tony Shaw, Cambridge, UK

Itinerary

A journey that leads you to the heart of indigenous homelands so inspiring they defy articulation, with the land’s true dimensional reality shared through the indigenous explanations relating to each prominent feature you experience.

We begin our journey by one of the most sacred sites on the Northern Plains – Mato Paha - Bear Butte, standing before the holy center of the Cheyenne universe to learn of the great prophet Sweet Medicine and the blessings he received for the Cheyenne. The Vore Buffalo Jump is regarded as one of the world's premier archeological sites. We learn of the mechanics of enticing small groups of buffalo from the herds to run over the edges of cliff formations and our interest reflects also the ceremonial journey that is linked to the sun’s passage through the constellations and the relationship between the buffalo and human beings.

At the Bear’s Lodge – Mato Tipila (Devil’s Tower) we hear tribal explanations of the rock’s creation and the connecting star world. We experience the outstanding Lakota and Cheyenne sacred site of the Deer Medicine Rocks where Sitting Bull’s vision of soldiers without ears falling like grasshoppers into camp can still be seen, then visit significant cultural and historic areas of the Northern Cheyenne Reservation.

In Cody, Wyoming at the world’s premier museum of the West, the Buffalo Bill Historical Society, we spend time in the Plains Indian Gallery, associating exhibits to what we have learned so far.

Along the trail of the bear we learn that Yellowstone is Indian Country. We explore the region’s history, cultures and enter the pristine domain of the four-leggeds among the awe-inspiring mountains and verdant valleys of the Greater Yellowstone region.

Heading north toward the Medicine Line, we follow the ‘Backbone of the World’, the ‘Shining’ or Rocky Mountains that define Glacier National Park; the traditional lands of the Blackfeet (Peigan) Nation.

We experience sites such as Running Eagle Falls, Two Medicine, Heart Butte, the Sacred Sweetgrass Hills or Chief Mountain before winding our way back to northeastern Montana.