The Walk of Gratitude
The Walk of Gratitude
For as long as I can remember, I have been drawn to the idea of taking a long walk. The time has come.
The walk began at the Canada/US border in Washington and I’m walking down the Pacific coast to Los Angeles. That is about 1,600 miles along the Pacific Coast Highway (Highway 1 and 101) and other roads.
I’ll live simply. Walk. Breathe. Be with Earth. Sleep outside. Rest and stretch my body. Harvest food and medicine from the land. Drink water. Swim in the Pacific Ocean, lakes and rivers. Read. Think.
I’ll spend time and talk with people who I meet along the path and who come to walk with me, practicing compassionate communication with each interaction. I will share my message through writing, speaking and being.
Unlike my last ten plus years of activism and adventures, I have no outward mission. This is for me.
To … slow down. Simplify. Be mindfully in the present moment. Deepen my gratitude for life. Fall in love with everything. Foster interconnectedness to all. Gain clarity and focus. Focus on peace within. Further my wholeness and completeness within.
With each day on the road, I’ll shed more of the past and walk into the present.
I am letting go of so much. I am letting go of attachment to outcome, even thought of outcome.
I am surrendering to the natural flow of life.
Although this walk is for me, the journey is part of the big picture. I have inner work to do to bring myself into higher truth and integrity and hone my service to Earth, humanity and the plants and animals we share this home with. I truly believe that this inner work and self-care is inherent to being the public servant I aim to be.
Time with Earth will abound, but so will time with people. I’m not walking on a trail through the woods, but rather on the roads and highways through many towns and cities.
I will continuously share updates of my whereabouts and my planned route so that I can be found by those who want to find me. I invite you to walk with me, or come sit with me wherever I’m making home while I’m not walking.
Here is how you can stay up-to-date on the walk and opportunities to join me:
- Join the Facebook group
- Sign up for the Walking Email Newsletter (below)
- Fill out this form
- Come back to this web page for updates
Route and Tentative Schedule
I am walking the Pacific Coast from the border of Canada/Washington to Los Angeles. I am primarily following the Pacific Coast Route of the American Cycling Association. I have divided the walk into five legs and I’ve linked to a map with a tentative route for each link
I intend to keep my schedule and route published and updated to facilitate ease for those who would like to come find me or organize a gathering in their community as I travel through.
Leg 1: US/Canada border to Port Townsend, WA (100 miles): 7/28 – 8/4 COMPLETE
Leg 2: Port Townsend to Washington/Oregon border (190 miles): ~8/8 – 8/29 with a long stop in Port Townsend to distribute the Food Freedom book. COMPLETE
Leg 3: Oregon (370 miles): 9/2 – 10/7 COMPLETE
Leg 4: Oregon/California border to San Francisco (445 miles): October 7th to – mid/late November
Leg 5: San Francisco to Los Angeles (520 miles): mid/late November to Late December/early to mid January
This document shares my most up to date route and schedule including estimations of when I’ll be walking through different cities.
Gatherings
See the events page for details on each event.
July 28th: Blaine, WA
July 30th: Bellingham, WA
August 3rd: Oak Harbor on Whidbey Island, WA
August 20th-21st – Port Townsend, Washington
August 30th-31st – Portland, Oregon
September 5th – Wheeler, Oregon
September 15th– Eugene, Oregon
September 23rd – Florence, Oregon
October 15th, Trinidad, California – 5:00-6:30 PM Gathering at Trinidad Branch Library outside by the pavilion (380 Janis Ct, Trinidad, CA)
Future Gatherings: No other gatherings are currently scheduled. Future events will be added here when they are scheduled. Fill out the form if you’d like to host an event in your community!
Joining the Walk
I am very much looking forward to opening up for others to join me walking! About a dozen or so people walked with me for different portions in Washington and Oregon, some walking for a few miles and others for a few days. My friend Brent joined from the beginning and we walked together through Washingtin and Oregon!
My workload has been very heavy over the last month between publishing Food Freedom, managing an organization, trying to share the journey and my life with others, and all the many logistics of the walk, and of course the walking! It all has been so much more than I ever planned or hoped and for most of August and September I worked from morning until night on most days. With 15 miles as the average day of walking and 5-8 hours of work on the computer, I was often going from sunrise to beyond sunset. This was not an environment that conducive to hosting others on the walk with me because I feared that I would not be as available as most would like me to be with them!
As of late September/early October I got caught up on the book and most of the work with the organization and am now getting into bed around sunset and being much more present with Earth and the walk. I am going to hold off on having others join me still so that I can focus on my service. As of October 10th I have decided to go with the flow and extend the trip as needed. I will add another day off walking each week and may do a whole week off somewhere. My priority is to start extensively writing and publishing videos. You can learn more about that here.
Joining from San Francisco to Los Angeles: By the time I get further in Southern California, I hope to have my flow to more available to organize for others to join. From the Bay Area to Los Angeles I may have a more concise schedule, which will be easy to join. If you’d like to walk with me, please fill out the form and include the dates/sections you’d like to walk. I will do my best to respond.
Get Involved
Fill out this form if you’d like to walk with me, host a gathering in your community, host me, support the walk or get involved in any other way.
Have photos or videos to share from your experience with me that you’d like to share? Upload them here. Please title them with date, location and your name.
Newsletter Signup
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Photo by Greg Sachs in Port Townsend, Washington; July 11th, 2024