Standing Rock

Matthew, Rick and I decided to drive up to North Dakota on Friday, November 25, 2016 and spend a day at Standing Rock. We are starting an online publication called Burning Bright Media. Our goal is to document and archive important events. I went along to document our journey. We arrived Friday evening and were welcomed into the Oceti Sakowin camp. We parked in the short term camping section. There is another section for people who are pretty much living there for the duration. The camp is VERY organized. There are portable toilets, food tents, and donation tents. There is a big board of scheduled events. There are AA meetings and wellness events. There is a medic tent and legal tent. The previous Sunday, there was an unsanctioned event (which some of you may have seen on social media). It did not go well. From what I understand, the Tribal Elders decided to vet any further water protectors who would be involved in the remaining peaceful actions. There are no weapons allowed at camp. There is also no drinking or drugs.. we did see a few people puffing pot. It is very cold overnight, but during the day it was a balmy 50 degrees. We slept in our van. We burned a candle because, apparently, that is enough heat to keep us from freezing. Check out @burningbrightmedia

Our morning oatmeal. You can see the steam. It was about 20 degrees.

One of the many tents there for the long haul.

A portion of the long term camp at about 8 a.m.

The green rope was placed here after Sunday's events. The elders do not want people approaching the barricade. As you can see, people are respecting their wishes.

There is a hill to climb, if one wants cell reception.

Another view of people not crossing the line.

Prayer flags on the hill.

These signs are posted right at the entrance to the camp.

Lucky us, we drove over a nail and got a flat. 30 miles to Mandan for a plug. Nice people. This mechanic said that while a small few of the 'protestors' vandalized their bathrooms, they were seeing an uptick in business.

Good as new.

Since we were in Mandan, we decided to check out the other side of the bridge. We ran into a police barricade here as well.

We got pulled over. They said they were  concerned that we were in the middle of the road taking pictures, we might get hurt. While very nice, they were clearly trying to intimidate us.

Found part of the pipeline on the way back to Standing Rock.

Again, with the intimidation. This guy came out of nowhere.

The road leading into the camp.

We decided to check out another nearby camp, Sacred Stone Spirit Camp. This was our view along the way.

This is a much smaller camp, but seemed to be comprised mostly of natives.

This is Turtle Island. You can see the police have parked their cars on top. Water Protectors remain at the base.

Birds in the sky.

Early sunset.

The sign on the road to camp.

North Dakota landscape as the sun sets.

Later sunset.