Spiritual Forces in the Sangre de Cristo

I went camping alone Thursday noon through Saturday noon in the Upper Huerfano Valley of the Sangre de Cristo (Spanish for Blood of Christ) Wilderness area. The place itself was beautiful--what I had always thought of as Colorado high country. (Check out a short slide show on the right panel of this blog.) It turned out to be much farther away than I had expected--close to four hours from home to the trail head.

I had been warned by articles and signs to beware of the bears so I was taking standard precautions. Thursday night, because of a series of events I didn't get to the trailhead until 7:00 PM. I decided it was too risky to start down the trail at that point so I camped just off the road a quarter of a mile back from the trail head. That allowed me to have dinner, get set up and make up a bear bag before dark. I was in the tent and sleeping lightly a little while after dark.

In the middle of the night I awoke, (or dreamed that I awoke), filled with terror. There's no other way to describe it. There was something outside the tent. It was not a bear or an animal. It was a presence of some sort. I tried to scream and could not get out a sound. I never saw anything or anyone, but I heard a voice say, "there's nothing in there that we want." It was as if to dismiss the intentions of the group to come into the tent and to lead them on and away.

That was the end of the dream/experience. The rest of the night passed without incident or more nightmares. I was puzzled by it. I don't remember ever having been as scared in a dream or in real life. I went on to have a wonderful time of seeking the Lord's face the next two days and the visitation did not have a negative impact on the trip. When I got home I was doing some research on the region and discovered that Blanca Peak, the principal mountain in the area was one of five sacred mountains to the Amerindians of the southwest. I also learned of a sighting by a credible person of a Big Foot creature very close to where I had hiked on the second day.

In hindsight I wonder if centuries of spirit worship may have left the area vulnerable to wandering demons. I even wonder if the Big Foot sightings may not be tied to similar spiritual forces. It is interesting that there have been so many sightings, many from "unmotivated" sources, yet never a capture and not much photography. One explanation of this could be the workings of demonic forces. There is no reason for a believer to fear such things. In fact it may well be that the demons themselves fear detection by an authentic believer, knowing their fate could be sealed for all of eternity by a Christian that binds them in the powerful name of Jesus.