July 6, 2024
I walked a 4-mile circuit on my familiar trails at Taylorsville Metropark north of Dayton, OH. My loaded backpack gave me an illusion of walking on the AT. Ahhh. My favorite way to pass time. Walking in woods on a trail!
July Walks: Heart Refreshed
July 5, 2024
First is to celebrate middle son, Adam’s 38th birthday! Next is to celebrate my heart refreshed on my walk in the cool morning forest! It always surprises me how amazing it is to step from the neighborhood street into the park. The only thing better would be walking all day and staying out. Oh, right! That’s what long-distance walks are all about. Time to plan one! Now, I’m aiming for July 13&14, maybe in Virginia.
July Walks 2024: Resistance
July 2, 2024
I did take a walk this morning – two short ones, actually. I would have skipped the first one except that I declared to my community that I would walk every day this month! So glad I did, too, because it really is true for me that walking in Nature, even with no mileage goal, lifts my spirits, wakes me up, and opens my heart to lighter views of the future. (I admit that yesterday’s Supreme Court decision feels heavy, even when I am open to things “unfolding according to a divine plan.”)
Sunrise Steps
Damariscotta, Maine.
June 8, 2020
I see it! I open my heart and mind to the metaphor offered. A new day’s light beams through the trees in the sky and in the world and time I am in…
The light calls me to see my own path in creating racial justice, to see the true history of the horrendous enslavement of black people, the disingenuous “freeing” of black people, and the disgusting and conniving suppression of black people as you courageously fought and must still fight for your full humanity to be respected in my white world. I HAVE been blind and tolerant of the deep and orchestrated systemic racial discrimination in the US, assuming that it has been enough for me to be kind to the black people I meet and know personally. I now see that I can DO more. Today, I let the Light reveal that path for my best way.
Oregon Coast Trail: Whale of a Day
August 25, 2019
On which we walked big miles, made a big leap in our thruhiking style, and saw some really big creatures!
Adding a few more words or phrases to the words above, like in one of those grammar games, we walked something like sixteen miles, starting our day at 5 a.m. at Devil’s Lake State Park and ending at 7:30 p.m. at Beverly Beach State Park. We made a big leap in our thruhiking style by catching the Lincoln County bus to skip four miles of walking on US 101 between Taft and Gleneden, making our day’s trip miles jump to 20. And, for our first time on this trip and over several hours of our day, from Boiler Bay south to Cape Foulweather, we saw whales – Gray Whales! Mostly, we saw the spouts of water sprayed from whales, and sometimes the backs of whales, to the tune of about 20 sightings in four to six spots along the coast. We just caught a glimpse of one whale between two houses as we walked down residential Coast Street in the southern streets of Depoe Bay. It was a whale of a day!
Oregon Coast Trail: Stamina
August 24, 2019
I awoke with gratitude for being in the quiet green spaciousness of the Cascade Head rainforest. Our choice to stop our forced march to the Sea Echo Motel in Lincoln City and sleep in this forest was a good one! This is what we needed! The stop also broke up our road walk on US 101 into two days instead of one very long, arduous one! With my spirit renewed by a night in the woods, I could bolster my courage and tolerance and walk on the road again. We still had 3.7 miles to go to Lincoln City, where we could shop at Safeway and return to the beach for a short walk to Devil’s Lake State Park Campground. We got away from our camp at a leisurely 8:40 a.m. We still had an hour’s walk in the forest. This time, I paid attention to its beauty!
Oregon Coast Trail: Roadwalking
August 22/23, 2019
“I’m going to call this Horrible Hill!” says John as we pace up the hill on the shoulder of US101. He must not be using Regina’s Meet the Mountains Technique, I thought. It wasn’t the elevation change bothering him, though, it was the threat of zooming trucks veering over the white line on the narrow shoulder. I agree, roadwalking is not fun, and this stretch bothers me too. It’s 2 p.m. on a Friday between the beach towns of Neskowin and Lincoln City. We were on a 4-mile stretch of the trail where there’s no trail. The official route follows the U.S. highway.
Oregon Coast Trail: Rain Day
August 21, 2019
7:56 Zach drops us off by boat on the Netarts Spit. We walk the beach, wondering when the forecasted rain would start. It’s overcast and raining oh so slightly. As we walk, the only ones on the beach today, my mind wanders to the rhythm of my feet.
This is our eighth day of hiking and I have noticed some inconveniences – I’m tired from our long days of walking, ready for a rest day; my sandals aren’t working so great because they rub a couple of toes raw. I do have gauze tape which helps; Its windy and starting to rain making walking a little uncomfortable.
Oregon Coast Trail: Water Shuttles
August 21, 2019
“$40 cash would make that happen” I heard the voice on the phone say. John was arranging a shuttle across Netarts Bay with Zach at Big Spruce RV. This would be our third water shuttle in three days on our walk of the Oregon Coast Trail. It was 1 o’clock in the afternoon and Netarts was about 8 miles away. Not bad. We could make it. What John and Zach had arranged was a site for the night at his RV park and a shuttle across the bay in the morning, about a quarter of a mile ride. That was great because having a known place to camp plus the shuttle were two essential services we needed!
Thruhiker Celebrity?
“Thruhikers are celebrities!” I read that in a women’s hiking group and chuckled. I don’t feel special! I walked the Appalachian Trail from Maine to Georgia within a year’s time, so I am a thruhiker.
As a thruhiker, how I know about myself is that I fulfilled my dream of being able to say, “I walked the AT”. I feel true to myself, that I listened to my heart and did what it took to walk one day at a time – and keep walking! So, if doing that makes me a celebrity, great. More than fame, however, what I want to do is entice others to create their own walks wherever they are, on the Appalachian Trail or in the neighborhood park! I want to help you discern what your equivalent of the Appalachian Trail is and step into fulfilling that dream!