Walk: Slow Down, Wake Up and Connect at 1 -3 Miles per Hour
I recently received this book by Jonathan Stalls from a friend of mine who knows (and shares) my passion for walking. Stalls is a evangelist when it comes to walking. It is his contention that walking nourishes our soul with the connection it offers to the natural world. His is a call for us to slow down, look around, and engage. I must say that this is a lesson embraced by virtually all PCT hikers and one that, if they do not know it when beginning their time on the PCT, soon learn it.
Stalls refined his thinking while on a 242-day walk across the United States some years ago. His experience was often on roads and his insights include critiques of our car-centric country. It reminds me just how unique the PCT is with 2,650 miles of trail with a minimum of interface with roads and automobiles.
Stalls includes a number of reflective exercises to be done while walking. His suggestions draw from mindfulness and meditation . . . part Thich Nhat Hanh and part Mary Oliver. "Protect some time next to a flowing water source near you," he advises. "Allow the water to calm your mind, inspire your heart, and nourish your journey." He has similar recommendations about listening . . . listening to your own footfalls while walking, to animal sounds, to the sounds of the wind, to your own breath.
I believe that this philosophy is one that every person who spends time on the PCT should fully consider. While I admire the determination and physical achievement of those who aspire to break PCT speed records or do the 30 mile days, it has been my experience that there is so much more to the PCT journey that can only be fully appreciated when one slows down.
I will share more of Stalls' thinking as I digest his book.
RH