Mount Shasta (Waka-nunee-Tuki-Wuki and Uhataahkoo)
At a meeting point of three American deserts—the Mojave, Great Basin, and Colorado—Mamápukaiv is a landscape sacred to the Nuwuvi (Southern Paiute) and other California desert tribes. Now managed by the Native American Land Conservancy (with the support of the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians) as the 2,560-acre Old Woman Mountains Preserve, this area southwest of Needles is unique both for its natural and cultural history.
With pine, juniper, and wild grapevines, as well as wildlife including bighorn sheep and deer, it’s anything but a barren desert wasteland. There are ancient trails and such cultural sites as the 800-year-old petroglyphs at Painted Rock. The location’s cultural prominence is evident by its inclusion in the Salt Song Trail (Asi Huviav), a 142-cycle traditional song that describes the journey of two sisters between sacred spots scattered across Nuwuvi lands.
In a Mojave Project article about the Salt Song, artist and writer Kim Stringfellow quotes Kaibab Paiute elder Vivienne Jake, who said, “Salt Songs are a cultural and spiritual bond between the Nuwuvi people and the land, and represent a renewal and healing spiritual journey.”
