The Eye of God (Big Bear)

The Eye of God (Serrano: Hatauva)[1] is a quartz dome which is a landmark in the Baldwin Lake area of Big Bear City, California. It is a megalith which is a sacred tribal landmark for the Serrano people who lived in the region 2,000 years ago. The Serranos worshipped the dome, which they referred to as the eye of their creator Kruktat (Kokitach).[2][3] It is where the Serrano's creation narrative takes place.[4] The Serrano Indians still hold the place sacred and believe God’s spirit remains here.[5]

Legend says God was watching to make sure the Indians treated one another well. Originally a full dome, it was dynamited during 1940’s.[6]

The quartz dome is a historic, sacred site of the native Yuhaviatam Clan of Serrano Indians. In the late 1800s, Spanish missionaries named the native people of Big Bear, Serrano, meaning “mountaineer” or “highlander.” Since earliest times, however, they called themselves the Yuhaviatam, “People of the Pines.”

Their creation stories involves a God, Kruktat, who created the People. After falling ill, Kruktat journeyed to the mountains where he lay dying in a bear cave. Tended by the First People, he was taken to Maktsuk, today called Pan Hot Springs, where be was bathed by human caretakers. Knowing he was dying, Kruktat instructed the People to cremate him and protect his body from Coyote, who eats dead things. Kruktat died near present day Baldwin Lake.

According to legend, during the cremation the eye of Kruktut flew out and became the a giant snow quartz megalith known as Aapahunane’t, or God’s Eye. Legend says that the unusually large white outcropping is God watching to make sure the People treat each other well.

While the people were dancing in a circle around Kruktat’s cremation pyre, Coyote snuck through the bowed legs of bear and snatched Kruktat’s heart in his mouth. The people hit Coyote, and as he ran into the mountains above Baldwin Lake, the dripping blood turned the rocky soil red. When the creator died the people mourned and their tears turned into pine trees, the area called Yuhaviat. The nuts from the trees became food for the Yuhaviatam, or People of the Pines.[7]

The quartz outcropping was originally a full dome, but was dynamited in the search for gold.

The Eye of God Trail is a 1.8-mile roundtrip hike to Eye of God, which has its trailhead on Burns Canyon Road.[8]

The Eye of God is still an impressive site, it is located near the 156-acre Baldwin Lake Ecological Preserve, that includes a unique pebble plain plant community, as well as a vernal wet meadow habitat, significant as a wintering site for bald eagles.