Walk Your Own Walk

With Joy...

Our friend Julie Gammack posted something the other day with the title, Hike Your Own Hike. She referenced the book Wander by Ryan Benz. It’s a memoir by a guy who walked the Appalachian Trail in search of a better life. Along the way, he encountered a sign that said, “HIKE YOUR OWN HIKE.”

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Sometimes we hike the hike others want us to hike. Julie’s point, and Benz’ I presume, is that we should hike our own hike through life. Or walk our own walk, is how I see it.

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I don’t “hike” anymore. I did when I was younger and living out west, with various stints in Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, and New Mexico. Hiking for me back then often involved rugged terrain and a fast pace, almost always with a backpack and lots of huffing, puffing, and sweating.

Today I walk, meander, and stroll. No hiking. The hills at Cedar Bluffs get me huffing and puffing a little but not enough to kill me, which is good. And I don’t mind sweating.

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The fast pace and intense focus sometimes associated with hikes never really worked for me even when I was young. I always wanted to go slowly to watch birds, examine plants, and look for fossils and artifacts. I still do.

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Julie Gammack is the heart and soul of the Iowa Writers Collaborative, to which I belong. She’s also the founder of the wonderful Okoboji Writers and Songwriters Retreat held every September at Lake Okoboji. If you get a chance, please consider enrolling. Here’s a “letter” I wrote to Julie after the retreat last year.

Early one morning as I was leaving on my walk while at the retreat, I saw a young man exercising and stretching on a yoga mat on the shore of the lake. I envied his strength and flexibility. I didn’t know it then, but the young man was the talented filmaker, Nik Heftman, and he is now a dear friend. Nik later produced a documentary film called “The Negro Artist,” which was filmed, in part, at Cedar Bluffs.

As I passed him, we nodded at each other, and then I said something like, “I wish I could do what you’re doing—I’m just going on my old man’s walk.”

“That’s OK,” Nik replied. “Someday I hope to go on my old man’s walk too…”

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As regular readers know, Violet the Dog is always my companion on my walks at Cedar Bluffs. While here she is waiting for me on the trail, most of the time she is all over the place, nosing around the prairie, or through the timber, seeing and smelling things I can only imagine.

She and I walk our own walks together, and we are very happy, dear readers, that you join us here, walking your own walk.

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Thanks for reading! Here are four of my favorite nature Substacks: My friend Larry Stone’s “Listening to the Land,” Diane Porter’s My Gaia, Al Batt’s Al’s Substack, and Jaron’s Curious Adventures. Please consider subscribing. All four will entertain, educate, and soothe your soul.

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