I dreamed of hiking mountains all my life. The most important step I took was to click the key on my computer keyboard that purchased my airline ticket to France. That action committed me to an adventure that opened new horizons. Yes, climbing up high summits was strenuous and a bit scary, but really just next steps from that most critical first step.

I have wanted to try a thru hike of the AT for years.  Wagon Wheel by The Old Crow Medicine Show was always my unofficial anthem for living the experience of walking the length of the Appalachian mountains from Georgia to Maine.  Don’t know why but this song puts me in the mood to put on my backpack and hike.

Even though I have never lived in West Virginia, it feels like home to me.  Who knows why?  Maybe because I have so many memories of my family, friends, as well as, my lonesome self running its rivers, hiking its mountains and drinking in its taverns.  My last trip was with my daughter Shannon.  We had a blast driving backroads (yes, country roads) up to Dolly Sods and then into the small towns of Davis and Thomas.  What made it special was the impromptu gorgeous views that made us stop the Jeep dead in its tracks, get out and take pictures.  Take me home, please!

At the end of the Camino Finistere, when you literally can’t go any further, there is a small monument to Pilgrims where land meets sea. While I saw many authentic cast off boots placed in obvious spots of significance to someone that left them, I was not prepared for this one.

There was something about this sculpture which made me meditate upon the significance of gear to hikers. Like many people, I form a special bond with my gear over a hike. Some stuff annoys me while other gear becomes like an old friend. There is something about hiking many miles, especially alone, through varied terrain and extremes of weather that are bonding. You also hike in silence contemplating existence, wondering about your purpose, revisiting old regrets, weighing remorseful against joyful memories. All the while there is only one companion sharing your thoughts and experiences: Your gear. This has the ability to transform commercially mass produced products into something else entirely. It becomes more talisman than gear. Specifically, I imbue almost supernatural qualities to my boots. After all, they carried me over the high mountains of Corsica, through the deep winter cold of Dolly Sods, WV, across the high hot plains of Spain’s Mesata. They alone enabled me to achieve heroic feats that I could not have done otherwise. Didn’t they?

In leaving behind a boot in memorial, however, I realize that maybe a hiker is acknowledging a spiritual transcendence. We mere humans are imbued with the supernatural abilities if we can only recognize it. After all, my inner strength was the only essential element that, in the end, made the difference. The boots are merely examples of the material vessel our eternal spirits inhabit briefly in time. Like a snakeskin shed at season’s end, it is only the cast off memory of the entity that passed this way. A transformation has occurred, the boot has outlived its usefulness. The entity goes on. The exciting part for me is to think about who inhabits the spiritual trail.

In the end, when we leave gear as mementos, memorials or simply discarded junk, we are acknowledging our superiority to the material. Conscious or not, it is an affirmation we are made of a different mold.

I will not be with you but for a short time.  Soon, I will enter my cherished woods and be with my brother mountain and sister stream.  Look not for me for I will not exist as before. Onto the pages of my book, my imagination will become one with my reality. What will that make me then?  

I am in the lead with Joven and Stephanie in lock step behind.  We cannot be deterred from entering the plaza before the Cathedral.  Its been a long journey for each of us.  I may have hiked the furthest miles but just planning and making the logistical trip from home and emotional commitment away from family to experience pilgrimage is enormous.   The solidarity we felt in this final mile was something I will never forget.

My whole life has been a quest to follow pathways.  Little did I know that they were not merely across the physical landscape but the geography of my soul.   The Camino de Santiago merged the two journeys into one.

Since my author’s blog is about the importance of myths and legends, I will spend some time highlighting how Christianity incorporates legends into its theology.   The legend of St George is a perfect example.

I am including the following excellent article:

Saint George: The Dragon-Slayer

A Courageous Man

Saint George is a figure more of legend than of history but there seems to be no reason to doubt his existence.  He was especially venerated by the crusaders.  It is believed that he was of Greek and Palestinian origins and that both of his parents were Christians.  His father was an official in the Roman Army  but he died when George was only 14.  Then, a few years later, George’s mother died.

George became a Roman soldier in Diocletian’s army.  By the time he was in his late twenties, George became an official in Diocletian’s army.  On February 24, 303, Diocletian issued a proclamation that every soldier in the Christian army would have to sacrifice to the Roman gods.  When George saw the edict, he freed his slaves, gave all of his money to the poor, and prepared for what was bound to happen.  He then went before Diocletian and admitted he was a Christian.

Because Diocletian had been friends with George’s father he tried to convert George, offering him land, money, and slaves if he would only sacrifice to the gods.  George refused his offer.  Diocletian, when he saw that he was getting nowhere, ordered that George should be arrested. (and had him beheaded emphasis added)

The Legend of the Dragon

The legend of Saint George and the Dragon is the most popular legend and one that has made Saint George famous.  This legend began in the East but then it spread to Western Christian tradition by the crusaders.

According to the legend, a venomous dragon had taken up residence in Lybia.  This dragon lived in a pond in the countryside.  To prevent the dragon from hurting the city too, the townspeople offered it two sheep a day.  After a time, they began offering it a man and a sheep.  Finally, they began giving it their children who were chosen by lottery.  One time, the King’s daughter was chosen.  He tried everything to save her even offering all of his gold and silver, but the people would not accept it.  The princess was sent to the lake and the dragon dressed as a bride.

It just so happened that George arrived at the lake at the very same the princess did.  When the dragon came out of the pond, George made the sign of the cross and wounded the dragon with his spear.  He then ordered the princess to tie her belt around the dragon’s neck.  When she did so, the dragon became tame.

George led the dragon back to the city where all of the people were absolutely terrified of it.  George promised to kill the dragon if the townspeople converted to Christianity.  Legend has it that 15,000 men converted including the King.  George killed the dragon and then its body was carried out of town on four carts!!

The King built a Church to the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint George on the site where the dragon died.  A spring flowed from the same site and its water cured all diseases.

World-Wide Veneration

Some legends indicate that George was martyred on April 2, 303, while some records indicate that he was martyred before the year 290.  He was canonized by Pope Gelasius I who said that George was a saint “whose names are justly reverenced among men, but whose actions are known only to God.”  Saint George is typically depicted as a knight on horseback, slaying the dragon with a spear.  His feast day is celebrated on April 23 and he is considered the patron saint of soldiers, boy scouts, and many countries.  

Parting Thoughts

I was looking for a quote to close this post as I have closed off all of my other ones.  As I was looking, I came across this one attributed to Benjamin Franklin:

Defer not thy well-doing: be not like Saint George who is always on horseback and never rides on.

Meaning no disrespect to Benjamin Franklin, I would like to say that Saint George did ride on.  He rode through legend and through history and through martyrdom and is now remembered and honored as a Saint for his courage in standing up for his faith.  Holy cards depicting a knight in shining armor, frozen in time, perpetually slaying the same dragon are not the true snapshot of Saint George.  His life ended in death, just like all of humanity.  What matters is what we defend while we are alive, and where we ride when we are gone.  During our lives, we all – men, women, and children – have the sacred honor and duty to defend what we believe in, to defend the truth, and to stand up for the faith, for freedom, and for life.  If we are faithful to that calling and to that duty, we will ride on to victory and eternal happiness, following in the footsteps of Saint George, who did ride on, showing us that courage can slay even the fiercest dragon.

“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

The date is set and not by chance. Things are in motion!

This video captures my Camino experience better than any other I have watched.  Living in the moment is a gift that the Camino gave me.  The emotion of making and losing great friends is something you can’t understand unless you do this journey yourself.  Pay particular attention to the narrative between 9 and 11 minutes.   I will cherish the memories of my human encounters on the Camino, some of which lasted only days, hours and even minutes, more than relationships lasting 30 years of my past life.

From Discover on Google https://www.aconsciousrethink.com/8971/poems-about-life/

Life is a pilgrimage. Pack only the essentials and start hiking.

Why do humans feel the urge to walk long distances in the act of pilgrimage? What intangible force compels them forward through strange lands, interminable weather, exhaustion and pain? I don’t know exactly but if you don’t feel the urge to make pilgrimage, I feel sorry for you. For the same force that moves the Milky Way across the heavens, should be gently drawing you along in its celestial wake.

Made it under 200 kilometers today. Started in St Jean de Pied a Port France which was 791 kilometers from Santiago. My feet hurt but spirits are good. Stay tuned. Watch my YouTube channel for videos. Its called “Bardo Patrol”.

I like the combination of clock and portal. Time is frozen on the clock face in the picture but the portal is open for transit. You don’t know who just passed through. In fact, I crossed this threshold at the precise time of the hands and quickly turned to snap a picture. It was my first steps of the Camino de Santiago which is as much a spiritual journey as it is a physical transit. I will never be the same person again but the clockface repeats itself over and over as each pilgrim starts their walk. Aren’t we all moving through portals everyday?

Just completed the GR20 which took me across Corsica thru unbelievably beautiful mountains. This morning I am waiting for my train that takes me from Carcassonne to the Spanish border where I will begin the Camino de Santiago