In search of the ultimate sweat lodge stone

"We're prairie people!", the wife exclaims as she
grabs on to my arm tighter than when we were first
married. We're in Lillooet country where there is a
whole lot more up and down than sideways. Below is the
Frazer River down a precipitous mountainside and above
more mountain made all the more dizzy by passing
cloud.
       A long days drive culminates on a winding mountain
road leading into Lillooet. The British Columbia
interior has baked in a heat wave for over a week. On
this day the temperature tickled forty degrees.
Cultural shock, high sugar levels induced by too much
restaurant food, the heat and my fear of heights all
combine to make things quite surreal.
       We arrive at the Friendship Centre and even this late
the heat hits hard. Cheryl Patrick and her mom welcome
us . Our ambassador Vernon Linklater wastes no time
explaining our presence. We've come to gather lava
rock for the sweat lodge providers back home. We being
a delegation  representing a partnership of service
providers from the City of Saskatoon.
       Lava rock is the ultimate sweat lodge stone. Made in
fire it excels in fire. Many kilometres below the
earth, rock flows as a thick super heated liquid. When
it reaches the surface it does so in spectacular
fashion creating a chain of volcanoes that spews lava
into thick beds of cooling stone. Lava beds can be
found exposed in certain areas of south western
British Columbia and the interior. Our Google search
turned up lava rock near Lillooet.
       Water rocks like shale, limestone and sandstone can
be quite dangerous when heated. They have been known
to explode. Some rocks even give off a sulphur stench
when heated. Among our local field stone, fine grained
granite and basalt work the best. I've heard of mud
stone from South Dakota baked hard and pottery like
that works quite well over many uses. It is lavas
ability to endure many uses and provide an intense
even heat that sets it apart from other stone. Lava
will not explode and even a small supply will carry
most people through the winter. This is a real plus
when the harsh reality of gathering stone in winter is
considered.
       The conversation drifts into the subject of  the
local venomous Black Widow spiders and even nastier
Brown Recluse spiders. In an effort to disassociate
myself  I grab the local paper. There is a photo of a
giant twelve foot sturgeon hauled out of the Frazier
River last week. Then there's the photo of a railroad
locomotive that lost its brakes and tumbled down a
mountainside in flames killing two aboard. Think I
won't read the paper anymore. Vernon and son are
searching the centre for the raggedy webs of black
widows. It's all too weird.
       Base camp is tenting beside the Frazier River. A sign
in the washroom warns  bears coming down from the
mountains to eat fish at the river may pass through
camp. No need for sleeping bags. The heat is
unrelenting but a mountain wind makes it somewhat
tolerable.
       In the morning we meet with Matilda Fenton, a local
Lillooet Elder, who will take us up into the mountains
to harvest the lava stone. She notices I'm quite
nervous about driving in the mountains. "Have some
faith", she says. Suitably chastised I say a short
prayer to myself and off we go. We climb half way up a
mountain over fifty kilometres along a logging road.
The lava beds are spectacular. We load up till the two
ton truck is resting on the overload springs. We've
done what we've come to do the rest is Millar time.
       We share a sweat with Darrel Bob a local Elder. The
Lillooet people are quite concerned about the sockeye
salmon run. The river is low and the heat waves have
pushed the waters temperature from a normal seventeen
degrees to twenty degrees This is very hard on the
salmon who are very affected by water temperature. The
local people have fished salmon on the Frazier for
thousands of years. The area was the centre of trade
among the interior people for centuries. Some sixty
pit houses near Kelty Creek supported between five
hundred and two thousand Salish people. Interesting.
The mountain behind his home is an ancient vision
quest site known to the locals as "medicine men's
mountain". History is endlessly fascinating.
       The local people welcomed us into their homes and
without their help we would not have gathered the
stone we came so long for. We extended our welcome to
visit us.
       We need to go high up in the mountains to find the
best cedar. The heat has browned the lower cedar a
rusty brown along the tips. We bring back two enormous
sacks to share with the people. We left fifty braids
of sweet grass, tobacco and gifts in Lillooet. Sweet
grass is highly prized among the BC people.
       Our dawdling has cost us so we drive late into the
night. Constable Salsi is already well on his way home
with the truck and its precious load. At one in the
morning we stop in Golden BC for the night. It's too
late to camp so we hunt around to find a motel with
vacancy. We finally find a place. I grab key 107 and
Vernon and Preston grab 106. In the morning Vernon
tells me to come inside their room. "Look what I had
to put up with all night.", he says. There on the wall
are two pictures of owls. Owls can be seen as
messengers of death. Some people get the creeps around
them. I'd be more worried about Brown Recluse spiders.
I only have a psychedelic Japanese drawing on my wall.
       We go for breakfast at the local Smitty's Restaurant
and find another owl photograph near our stall. Vernon
says he was warned not to come on this trip. One of
his relatives dreamed of three owls. Dire consequences
awaited us even death she said. This omen was oddly
and harmlessly fulfilled by the pictures. I had dreamt
of carrying a spare tire up a steep hillside where I
found a salmon swimming among the branches of a tree.
We did have a flat on the mountain road and the salmon
may very well represent salmon berries. The wife
dreamt of three sisters before our trip and saw them
when the three Fenton sisters came to sit at the meal
following the sweat. Our unseen companions traveling
with us had a good sense of humour.
       The wife and I were sponsored by the Saskatoon Health
region. I am an Aboriginal Support Worker at Calder
Center and she is also an Aboriginal Support Worker at
Larson House Social and Brief Detox. We acted in a
ceremonial capacity. Vernon Linklater, our unofficial
ambassador, organized most of the trip in concert with
Constables Keith Salsi and Preston Parenteau of the
Saskatoon City Police Service. The trip was sponsored
by and paid for by the Saskatoon Police Service
Peacekeepers program. Both Constable Parenteau and
Salsi are members of the Saskatoon City Police
Aboriginal Unit. Special thanks to the City of
Saskatoon for providing us with a brand new two ton
truck. We couldn't haul stone without a good truck.