From Home: to Montecito Peak & Camino Cielo: to the Tunnel Trailhead and down Rattlesnake Canyon: to the Santa Barbara Mission Representing Grandas de Salime to Fonsagrada...and also, of course, to Santiago de Compostela
On June 30 we walked our last leg of the Camino de Santa Barbara. We knew/hoped/planned that this would be the day to end all days: to "leave it all on the trail," as it were. Our farthest and highest day.
I am so overdue in writing it up, I think, because then it will really be over. Also it was too much. It was a beautiful day.
On this day, we invited people who have walked with us on this journey to literally walk with us on the last leg. While some people had expressed interest or intent to meet us at the finale or walk the last hour or so with us, one friend met us at our house to start walking at 7am. She walked the first ten miles with us--most of that uphill--what a gift. THANK YOU K!
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| Getting warmed up about an hour in |
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| Our turnaround point for spring training. +/- 2 hours in |
Probably my very first post-cancer hike was with K in late 2016. Every year for her birthday she invites friends to join her for a hike up this very trail--to watch the sunrise from a beautiful vista point. I used to joke that was the only time I would get up early in the morning to hike. It used to be true! Hiking on K's birthday gave me hope that one day I'd be able to hike a little farther. It was a joy to have her along on this day, and to get to do the ascent to Montecito peak with her--on her first time to the top!
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Final ascent to the Peak: I was pulling myself up with my arms
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On Montecito Peak!
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| The man almost always behind the camera |
After descending Montecito Peak back to the trail, we continued up to Camino Cielo. It's not very far...but it still felt farther than I expected. No surprise. Uphill is often long.
Early in this hike I revealed my fear of rattlesnakes, and the irrational fear (held over from childhood) that they would chase me down and bite. It gave context to my freezing in my tracks and pointing: "That is definitely a rattlesnake." I saw it stretched out with its reddish rattle, and was able to show it to both J and K before it noticed us and started rattling. It was louder than I would have thought, and having now heard it I am unlikely to mistake any other sound for it again. It made its way off the trail --it was already on the move before J got the photo below--and we continued on our way. Contrary to my assumptions as a child, it did not then stalk and attack us.
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| Made it to Camino Cielo! |
Camino Cielo is the road that runs along the ridge above Santa Barbara. From it you can see both south to the ocean and north to the mountains and the Santa Ynez valley. It's a beautiful walk.
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| Changing socks and applying duct tape to "hot spots" |
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Looking back/down on Montecito Peak with K
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We had just over four miles along this gorgeous (and smooth) route before we came to the top of the Tunnel trail and the end of K's time with us. Her family picked her up and we waved goodbye after a lunch break at the crossroads just beneath La Cumbre Peak. After that, it was heading back down the trail that had been my struggle on Day 3...
...and looking for our water resupply that J planted on Day 6. Would it be there?
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| Victory! |
It was! We were tickled to see that the gallon we had left exactly refilled the water we had already consumed. Perfect. After refilling, we continued down the trail. Most of the trekking left on this day was a repeat of something we had walked before. Usually I would expect that to mean that there would be space for processing different questions. I am sure we did talk about some important things--but in yet another of the many ways we have found the trail to reflect real life, the terrain was challenging enough to require most of our attention, leaving little for vision casting or untangling. For example, the first half of this leg included long stretched of multiple types of terrain such as these:
What variety! It is a beautiful if sometimes treacherous way. On the Rattlesnake/Tunnel Connector, we even found the branch beside the trail that I broke off rather uncomfortably during a fall about two weeks earlier. This time I only fell once (not here)!
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More duct tape on more toes at the 13-mile mark
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Our feet were sore and we were tired; but not too tired to appreciate what's beautiful. I hope that can also be the case in the midst of the parenting and pandemic problem-solving that stand in for loose rocks and uneven terrain back at home.
One of the things I had mentally bookmarked to talk about on our camino was some vision casting/planning for this next season of life. If we break our "adult" life into thirds, for example, we're at a transition point between seasons. What are our priorities for this next section of the trail? We did talk about that some, earlier on the camino, between sliding rocks and expansive views and water refills.
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| This time next year we will have been married for more of our lives than not |
But on a later walk J reframed the question. It's easy to assume that the years keep coming: what to do in the next ten years, and then the next, and then the season after that...but how might the answers change if the question is what to prioritize in the next ten years, period? If ten years are all there is to plan for, do the answers change?
Yes, somewhat. Kudos to J for being willing to ask the question, and thanks to our friend SG for this encouragement years ago: "Don't wait to celebrate" (now my personal favorite hashtag).
It's a good reminder to me (hahaha #cancerpatient) not to wait to get to work, either. With a big task or goal at hand, I sometimes find I'm doing the equivalent of waiting on a train, because the distance-to-goal seems so far: but I should probably just start walking. One step at a time!
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| Kind of a bummer that it takes hours of walking to get this view |
We headed down the connector trail, passed through Tin Can Meadow, and finally reached the shady creek in Rattlesnake Canyon.
We stopped to splash and cool off. This last segment always seems about 250% longer than I expect it to be. This day was no exception.
We did finally make it to trailhead: and there, what to our wondering eyes did appear but a squad of encouragement to bolster us for the last 2.5 miles of the way! Women who have encouraged me along the way, both long-term and in the more recent season. Even K was there to wave and say hello, about four hours after she drove away at the top of the ridge. So refreshing to see them all.
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| So excited to see these people |
Group walking in the age of Covid was more complicated than otherwise, but doable. We were all masked and kept moving. As we walked, these dear friends asked about our time and my processing and it gave me an opportunity to try to synthesize my thinking a little bit. But also, I was soaking it up: getting to physically walk the road with some of the people who had metaphorically walked with us through some pretty treacherous terrain.
Before we could see the Mission, we could hear it: its tower bells chimed long and lovely at 6pm. In a few more minutes we were within view.
I don't have any photos of the large, socially distanced prayer circle we had on the side steps of the Mission. (I also don't have photos of the dance troupe practicing on the main steps during our praying). J had brought a liturgy and we prayed together as a group, while navigating the barrage of texts from our kids that started landing loudly in the midst. Afterwards, some stayed behind to celebrate with a little Spanish Cava J had packed in a cooler in the car we had left parked at the Mission the night before. More toasting God's goodness.
I'm so grateful for the long-term support of our community. So grateful for the ability to walk and experience all of the beauty that we did, in spite of the damage done to my body by the cancer. So grateful for the regular rhythm of liturgy, and for the awe-inspiring setting of our local Camino. So grateful for J's incredible, outrageous support and encouragement. So grateful for our kids (they get their own post soon). So grateful for for the ideas and reflections we'll be unpacking in the season(s) to come. So grateful for "the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting."
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| We made it! |
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| Camino de Santa Barbara, Finale |
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