Getting Lost in the Experience

Last Saturday, I walked out my backdoor sans backpack but wearing my hiking boots to do what has become a fairly regular Saturday morning ritual – walking to a neighboring town coffee shop and back which is thirteen (13) miles round trip.  That walk along with other shorter ones during the week are hopefully keeping up my fitness level so I’ll be ready for my next Camino – when ever that is.  It’s also my pretend Camino walk – where I leave my home, walk a distance before stopping for a break, then continue to my destination.  Sometimes I do this walk on auto pilot, but mostly I try to stay in the moment by noticing what has changed from the week before:  more leaves have turned color, additional construction has been completed on a new home build in progress, and even perhaps just the different the weather of the day makes on my walk.  This Saturday I was rewarded with a very fun and interesting adventure that was real and unexpected.

As I approached the little village where my coffee shop is located shortly before 10 AM, I was surprised to see people lined up along the main road.  They had portable chairs and adults along with their children were camped out.  Then it dawned on me that this Saturday and Sunday were “Salmon Days” in Issaquah – a yearly event – and there must be an approaching parade.  Salmon Days brings a couple number thousand people flooding into this small town and I’ve steered clear of the traffic jam and shuttle until now when I found myself smack dab in the middle of it, arriving on my own two legs.  *Camino Experience Revisited*

There was a long line extending out the door of the coffee shop and by the time I ordered and received my java there was no time for a quick rest – I had a parade to attend!  Locating myself on the curb between two families, I watched the charming parade floats, school bands, and local businesses march by.   I’m not sure who was having more fun – the children who were in the parade, or the ones watching it.  A grand time was being had by all.  I decided to walk backwards along the parade trail and by the time I reached the end, I was on the other side of town where all the booths and carnival rides were located.  Again, I was charmed by this small town event and so excited that I had happened upon it, rather than arrived to as a planned destination.  It reminded me of the Corpus Christi Procession in Leon that was a surprise, the upcoming small town bull fight that would happen in Altos, and so many other fun surprises while walking the Camino.

Now that I was on the other end of town, rather than backtrack to where I began at the coffee shop and return home the usual way, I began to visualize how I could walk home from here.  I knew how to do it by car, which involved crossing over a freeway and large overpass – but I wasn’t sure I could do it on foot.  Relishing the adventure, I set out on my new path.  As I approached the freeway I was pleasantly surprised to see a sidewalk continue over and around the freeway, sending a silent prayer of thanks to the city planning commission for making the old village and the new Highlands area connected for walkers between the two.  Smiling to myself, I thought about all the times I had driven past this section and never noticed the sidewalk before.  I was particularly charmed when the sidewalk wound under the overpass and I found landscaping complete with ornamental statues.  *Camino Experience Revisited*  So many of the entrances to main cities on the Camino had similar discoveries along the path.

Then I came to a fork in the path with no Camino yellow arrows (and no map in hand) to guide me.  One path was paved and most probably would take me up in the shopping area of this part of town where I could walk home on sidewalks along the street.  The other path was gravel.  Knowing that I had walked through a large forested area from my home to this part of town, though not this section – I felt confident I could ‘connect’ with the section I was familiar with and do my walk through the woods rather than along the road.  Having a sense of direction only, I took the ‘more adventurous route’.  *Camino Experience Revisited*  I often took the alternative route which few or no other pilgrims on the Camino traveled.  This was going to be fun!

The green arrow on the lower left of the map is where I entered the gravel path (marked with the dotted line) and the green arrow within the red circle is where I wanted to be.  NOTE:  I did not have this map with me.  I was walking parallel and on the hillside above the freeway and knew at some point I would probably find a connecting path to head up higher on the mountain where I would connect with the path that would take me home.  What I didn’t know but you can see in the circle is how many paths there are going up and down the hillside, back and forth across the mountain.  As the time ticked by, and my Runkeeper app indicated the miles being walked, I kept trying new paths only to find myself back on the path parallel to the freeway turning back uphill knowing I needed to go up higher to be where I wanted to be.  *Camino Experience Revisited*  So many hills on the Camino are climbed by ups and downs, not straight UPs.  I could see my blue dot and the direction I was heading on Google Maps, it didn’t help that Google Maps shows roads not trails.  It was only upon returning home (finally) and finding a map of the area that I could get a visual on where I had been.  An interesting note also is that I have never walked on this trail – especially on a Saturday – that I don’t see people on trail bikes and perhaps another walker.  Today there was no one but me to rely upon getting on the right trail home.

Finally finding a familiar sight – the wooden path – I knew I had made the right turn and was where I wanted to be.  My normal thirteen (13) mile walk had become eighteen (18) plus miles and had given me an unexpected adventure.  *Camino Experience Revisited* I had walked a variety of surfaces – sidewalk, gravel, forested dirt and had experienced many environments – just like a day on the Camino.

I’ve now downloaded an app called AllTrails that will help should I ever find myself ‘lost’ in the woods again.

Adventures are exhilarating and rejuvenating for me.  I wondered if the longer walk that included many many hills would leave me stiff or sore the next day, but I felt great when Sunday rolled around.  After all – compared to the Camino – this was just one long walk, not weeks of long walks strung together.  I yearn for the day I can return to The Way once again.

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