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Still On Foot

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I’m fascinated by the first entries in Paul Salopek’s Walk Out of Eden, his seven year project to travel by foot from Africa’s rift valley to Tierra del Fuego at the southern tip of South America. In one of his recent posts we discovered that African nomads, who live lives very different from our own, are increasingly reliant on their cell phones.  One catch is the absence of an electric grid for re-charging, so services are springing up to provide desert plug-ins.

Shida_monument

Let that be a lesson for the American luddite who has every new tool at his disposal but refuses to use them. You may see computers and smart phones as meaningless and inauthentic, but nomadic Ethiopian shepherds are using digital technology to stay current on the price of goats. They’re also walking great distances in light, inexpensive plastic sandals – to such an extent that the footwear has been memorialized by a public sculpture in Eritrea.

While the nomads are leaping forward technologically, Salopek is turning back time when it comes to modes of travel, abandoning modern conveyances for the most basic transport of all. It’s an attention-getting move to decide to take a long walk in the modern western world.  

It got my attention, anyway.

Taking a Big Walk is still an eye-opener here in the “developed” west – as surprising in our culture as it would be to the nomads if one of their own loaded his goats into the back of a Hummer and drove off into the sunset.  A remarkably long list of people have trekked across the USA to lose weight, change their attitude, honor a friend or relative, or raise money for a cause.

If you are thinking of doing the same thing, there is plenty of advice available. But it appears the stakes are rising.

When I was still a teenager, Dan Walker walked almost 1,200 miles across Illinois and wound up winning the state’s top political office. I think people were impressed that he managed to actually set a goal and accomplish  it – a rare feat in some political circles.   Walker later became one of Illinois’ imprisoned Governors – not a great distinction but I suppose he can take some pride in the knowledge that his jail-able offenses were committed AFTER he was in office.  Apparently on his long walk one thing he did NOT think about was whether or not there’s a significant difference between a federal law and a banking regulation.

Regardless, you have to respect the magnitude of the walk.

It would be hard to match the outsized significance of Salopek’s pilgrimage, but if you had the time, the stamina and the shoes for it, where would you take your 1,500 go 3,000 mile walk?

71 thoughts on “Still On Foot”

  1. Good morning. I’m not ready to do any long distant walking. If somehow I did end up taking a long walk I think the Appalachian Trail would be one of my first choices as a route to follow. Other trails similar to the Appalachian Trail might also be considered. I think there are some good hiking trails in Minnesota, including the one along the North Shore, that aren’t as long as the Appalachian Trail which I might try if a shorter walk is allowed. I have heard that there is a long trail through the Rockies that might be a good one to try.

    A little research would probably turn up some long walking trails outside of the U S that might be of interest to me. I wouldn’t be too inclined to just strike out across the country without following a trail. Also I would like to stick to the country side and to natural areas of more or less undeveloped land.

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  3. Back and forth on the Superior Hiking Trail. I have done about 1/3 of it now.
    Across the top of Alaska, which really cannot be done, geography providing several obstacles.
    Seattle to Juneau, which has been done.
    St. Pteresburg to Rome the long way, along the coast.
    Coast of England/Wales/Scotland. Done often, sort of done by both Bryson and Theroux.
    Several of the travel books that I am selling off are walk books. Love walk books.

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    1. At this point in my life, it has occurred to me, I want to do walks where I would stay in hotels and such. But since my legs are shot for walking, I can dream anything. So adding to the above:
      Coast of St. Lawrence,
      Length of the Rhine.
      Coast of Lake Superior or the coast of the Great Lakes.
      Length of New Zealand–this would be almost #1 these days.
      St. Louis to San Diego.

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        1. I am rewatching the extended LOTR and would want to go find as many of the filming sites as I could, and risk the orcs.

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      2. I did that in the little town in Ireland where quiet man was filmed
        Cong if I remember correctly. I was there early 70s and the electricity they had to bring in to the town to make the movie was accepted as normal then some 18 years later . the town was changed dramatically when it was brought in to be the first in the area . the house where john Wayne lives was bulldozed(too bad) but many familiar scenes were just how you saw them but the trees were either taller or gone
        Very cool

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      3. saw a guy who spoe when another author got sick for the pen pal series who did the walking the bible series on pbe and that looked interesting as could be.. i would love to walk around over there int he holy land and see where all that stuff happened.

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  4. I think a hike through the Loire Valley would prove diverting. While it is a little shorter by the time one explores the chateaus, vineyards, and bakeries the requisite distance would be traversed.

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  6. The first thing to come to mind was the Himalayas, second the Rockies then the Appalachian trail, then I remembered the entry to the nw passage near jasper in thecanadian Rockies which is my favorite campsite on the planet Celestine lake is the name by the way but the 1500 to 3000 mile hike dale uncharisticslly misspelled mAde me think about hiking Europe then Africa then china Cambodia Thailand
    But really shouldn’t it start with the north shore or something I could put on my calendar. It dawned on me the other day I’m not doing Everest anymore . So I can now focus on the others I do want to do for my bucket list
    Kilimanjaro the apes over there the amazon machhu picchu New Zealand Africa better get it done in the next 10 or 20 years before time is gone. After doing the driveway this morning I think just touching my toe on Antarctica is enough I don’t need to cross it.

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    1. I am this a.m. trashing some momentoes of trips we have taken. Came across a booklet we bought about Guadalupe Mountains National Park. Drove by it twice and always wanted to walk it.

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        3. If you don’t know there is a movie called the Long Hot summer based loosely on The Hamlet and some short stories. Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Orson Welles. Delightfully lousy. Newman plays it for camp.

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  9. This is sad for me. I used to be a heroic hiker who could walk forever. My friends made fun of me for that. Even when I was old and out of shape I was able to do the whole Superior Hiking Trail, although it took me two tries to get it all. Now, between my heart problems and arthritis, I’m not sure I could walk all the way around the city block where I live. I’d need a lot of time and chances to rest.

    Even in my dreams, I can’t now contemplate a hike of a thousand miles. But I’d love to be able to hike the SHT again, which I could only do if there were a motel with a shower, a bed and a good meal with wine at the end of each day’s jaunt. And I’d need the body I had fifteen years ago.

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    1. Arizona is magic
      Got a buddy in flagstaff
      Jerome was the coolest hippy artist town ever
      Bet it is gone or curio city by now,
      Arizona highways was like a torture test instead of a pleasure. I hate it when life plays cruel tricks with its gifts

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  11. We are going to the Maritimes with our son and daughter in law in June, and my son wants to hike In Gros Morne National Park. in Newfoundland. Any baboon ever been there?.

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    1. We plan to divide our time between Cape Breton and Newfoundland. It is a trip to celebrate son’s graduation from graduate school.

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  13. It might be fun to walk (roughly) the Trans-Siberian Railway route – or better yet, the branch that becomes the Trans-Mongolian route (that goes through, obviously, Mongolia and gets you to smog-filled Beijing – though maybe I should start in the smog and use the walking to clear my lungs). If I did one of those, perhaps i could arrange to take one of the twice-monthly trains that runs (according to wikipedia anyway) into Pyongyang, though that might be a dicey proposition. If I want to be a little more prosaic, I could walk the path around my employer’s corporate campus 5 times daily throughout the year and get to the 1500 miles (give or take – it’s about a mile long route) – but 5 miles in suburban Richfield, with 494 on one side, just doesn’t have the same draw as Russia, Mongolia and China.

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  14. How about Walkin to New Orleans? A good walking song and a good place to go. Of course, I wouldn’t be going home to see my honey as Fats Domino said in his song. I would be walkin to New Orleans to hear some good music and to have some gumbo.

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      1. Here are the lyrics. I haven’t learned how to put of a video.

        It’s time I’m walkin’ to New Orleans
        I’m walkin’ to New Orleans
        I’m going to need two pair of shoes
        When I get through walkin’ to you
        When I get back to New Orleans

        I’ve got my suitcase in my hand
        Now, ain’t that a shame
        I’m leavin’ here today
        Yes, I’m goin’ back home to stay
        Yes, I’m walkin’ to New Orleans

        You used to be my honey
        Till you spent all my money
        No use for you to cry
        I’ll see you bye and bye
        Cause I’m walkin’ to New Orleans

        I’ve got no time for talkin’
        I’ve got to keep on walkin’
        New Orleans is my home
        That’s the reason why I’m goin’
        Yes, I’m walkin’ to New Orlean

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  15. Might be fun to do a circular walk around the outer circumference of the Great Lakes–start and end in Duluth, of course. I think I’d save the best for last and walk counterclockwise so as to finish along the north shore of Superior.

    Chris in O-town

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      1. My ballpark guess would be about 3000 miles. At say, 20 miles per day (pretty leisurely, if I assume a pace of 4 mph, so five hours of walking per day), it would take 150 days. Not a bad way to spend a summer/fall.

        C in O

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  17. When I was growing up my Dad walked often. Home from a field, out to look at cows, things like that. We’d take a truck load of seed to the field or something and he’d tell me to take the truck home again and he’d walk. And I couldn’t understand why he didn’t drive or take a tractor or something.
    Later, I began to understand the simple quiet joy of walking the pastures or fields. And to hear him talk about his childhood and how walking miles to town or to visit someone wasn’t any big deal. (He didn’t like horses that much. Even having them as work horses he didn’t ride them). Our driveway is almost a mile long and I had to walk home from the bus fairly often. And I didn’t like walking even then.
    But I think walking around Italy or Greece or perhaps the Middle East (politics not withstanding) might be interesting.
    (I got some custom arch supports and there’s hope yet for my tired, worn out feet!)

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  18. It’s taken me quite awhile to catch up. I get behind and I like to read everything before I post. I have fallen on ice twice in the past week and my right hand is bruised and lacerated, my knees are skinned and my back is stiff. This ice stinks! You can’t just go outside and walk lately!

    I love walking. Sometimes I think I could just keep walking. I’ve gotten too heavy though, and my feet ache these days, so even though I think I could do it, I’d probably find out that it’s a big challenge.

    Like others, I’d like to finish hiking the SHT. The Applachian Trail would be lovely. I’ve always wanted to circumnavigate Lake Superior, but that might be fun to do on a bike. How about if I just set out walking west and walked until I’d covered 3,000 miles? How many miles to San Francisco? If I haven’t reached 3,000 by the time I arrive there, I’ll just turn right and head north up the coast toward Washington and Oregon or British Columbia. Then I could just as well walk home. I’m sure I’d see some nice country. I’ve never done much traveling, so I’d be willing to go just about anywhere.

    OT: Cb, yesterday you mentioned the head of oncology at Park Nicollet. Do you mean the Chief of Oncology at Frauenschuh Cancer Center? I’m interested in his name. I think I might know him.

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  19. Yesterday would have been Eva Cassidy’s 50th birthday had she not passed away in 1996. I’m grateful to have so music available on CDs. Here’s a short video about her life.

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  22. Noel Coward was commissioned in the early years of the automobile to write a popular song about traffic safety for all the unwary London pedestrians. One line from the song is so Noel Coward, as it advises the listener to be careful because “your too seraphic for the traffic”.

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