Bear Buttes: An Unfortunate Name for a Handsome Place
Sunset Sky above Bear Buttes
Daily Photo
In the 1800’s, poking through the unexplored (by white skinned types anyway) lands of upper California, a group of fellows came across a sleuth (yes, that is the correct collective name) of grizzlies.
“I say, Watson, do you see those fellows shooting at us. Let’s eat them,” growled the furry ones. So the bears attacked and, in memory of this…uh..grisly event, the beautiful mountain above was given the unfortunate name of Bear Buttes by the explorers.
If you are a local and only hear it said—buttes is pronounced as beauts–there is no actual problem. But if you live with young males and must drive past the sign—the jokes are endless and, sadly, in poor taste–as, fortunately for him, was poor L K Woods, the explorer who was simply chewed on before being spit out.
Join the discussion! For rules visit: https://kymkemp.com/commenting-rules
Comments system how-to: https://wpdiscuz.com/community/postid/10599/
I always wondered who or what LK Wood was, having traveled up and down his namesake road in Arcata hundreds of times on my way to Sunny Brae School from outside the district. (shhhh, don’t tell. It’s been nearly 30 years, but I still don’t want to change schools 😉 )
I didn’t know old L.K. was a part of Bear Buttes history. In regards to his “namesake road” in Arcata, when I worked at HSU we often had students insist they lived on “Lake Wood”, thinking the “a” and “e” were just missing off the sign.
Well, Kymmer–the story of the buttes is a grizzly one–but you at least state the bear facts. Your picture is a Kodiak moment that I hope doesn’t POLAR-ize your readers. I’ll stop now. Love, Robin
Ever been to the top of the Buttes?
love the colors in the sky
I can’t bare the puns, Robin!
Joe, no I haven’t but I would love to go!
Well, I’ve been up there a couple of times, even camped out over night one time. Great view.
Used be a herd of wild goats up there. Wonder if they’re still there?
The Wallaki name for the Butte is: Tse.Naan.Tsung. With a long “u” in tsung. Tse means rock. Naan or nun means steep and tsung is a mystery ‘tho my list says it means star. It is pronounced, more or less (mostly less) “Say-none-sung. The sung being hard to reproduce without a dash over the u.
The Butte was the place where the surviving boy and girl landed in their basket boat after the Creator destroyed the world in a flood. The mountain was forbidden to any but a medicine person who had fasted and trained to climb it and to speak to the spirits living there. It is a powerful place and if you speak to it, calling out its name, the spirits may reawaken and bring back the rain. They could also bring you luck.
The herd of goats is gone with the Woods Ranch subdivision, but I do remember them. Old timers said there were cougar dens up there. My favorite view is from the Salmon Creek side, with a wisp of cloud at the top looking like smoke from an old time dance house.
Thanks Ben for devoting so much of your time to the history of the Sinkyone and other local native cultures. I remember reading somewhere that sana n’sung translated for the natives as “unapproachable” and
I wondered if it had something to do with it being a grizzly bear stronghold when the first whites showed up, and probably since time immemorial. I was always curious as to whether any of the ethnologists private notes that can be accessed only upon request, could provide further insight into the local flood /Noah’s ark basket story. I think I remember that in Gladys Ayer Nomlands SINKYONE NOTES pamphlet, it said that the basket landed at “a flat place in the Buttes” which I assumed referred to the Buttes of Elk Ridge, namely Clarks, Dickson, and Gilham… Is there a specific reference to Bear Butte in any literature? Or is it just “the Buttes?” One other very special thing about Bear Butte is that it is one of the extremely rare places on earth where one can experience Buddha’s Glory, also known as the Spectre of the Brocken, from the tiny peak. Glory is a scientific word and phenomenon that occurs when the sun makes a perfectly circular rainbow around your shadow on the clouds below you. Mine eyes have seen it up there.
Say-none-sung is a beautiful place from a distance and probably even more beautiful up close. Joe, you are lucky to have been there and Ben, thank you for telling me about this piece of my home!
When your post first opened up, my eye saw bear butts, not buttes, and I was thinking, Oh my, I wonder what Kym has to say about THIS! Ha! Too funny (you, not me). 😉
I love a good collective noun – a parliament of owls is a favourite too
I can see my house from here!
Joe, no goats that I’ve seen on the Woods Ranch side.
Vast herds of turkeys these days.
Lovely picture. I love collective nouns too. A murder of crows is my favorite.
ONE of my favorite views of Bear Buttes is from the porch of the Garberville Library. I love the dramatic lighting of sunset on those rocky faces from the Creek side, too. Some days, it looks like it’s drawing cloud cover to itself when the rest of the sky is clear.
I’ll start using its Wailaki name in hopes of coming rain (that would be luck enough)!
My favorite view changes. The soul satisfying view of my childhood with the pyramid shape feeds me. The jagged cliffs off to the East make me ache for more and the view from Salmon Creek School should be nominated for best ever view from a school yard!
(Silverstar, a murder of crows is my favorite, too!)