From Mexico to Canada on the Continental Divide Trail

Setting out again from the river in Bad Feilnbach, this time I traveled southwest on trails and small roads to Deisenried and Elbach, tiny villages on the way to Fischbachau . Behind me on the great plain, blue sky. Ahead, gray clouds, but they seemed to be breaking up a bit. However, once on the plateau and heading due South towards my mountain, I entered a land of strong wind, then blowing snow. It was cold, but I didn't mind because the scenery around me was etched into reality with unusual sharpness and vibrance. I listened to an amazing podcast on those great lines from Hamlet, "to be or not to be." Then back to Vivekanandas "Jnana Yoga," a really wonderful exposition of yoga for westerners of the 1890s, and still today. He communicates subtle ideas with brilliant metaphors. Barbara listened to some of this last weekend and was impressed. I was impressed with her, because she never thinks her English is good enough, but she understood all this. A great comm...

 I knew it would rain in Markt Schwaben, so I thought to drive behind the bend of the mountains to Wörgl. However, things looked pretty good, so at Bad Feilnbach I parked and made up a route on the spot in Komoot (nice app for planning hikes). I ended up with an 18 mile hike that was quite beautiful! Here is a link to it . I especially liked the forest on the west side of Au. Then, climbing up out of the forest to high meadows was inspiring, and very dramatic because of the wind. I stopped at a small chapel with a special grotto for the Virgin Mary. I meditated in there a while, and it was wonderful. The fast moving clouds meant that the grotto became dark, then light, then dark again. Throughout, Mary breathed forth her special energy as Mother of the world. I saw her chest expand. And I got some insight into the "prayerful" position of hands clasped together, fingers up, over the heart. To me, it meant: "I will effect on the Earth with my hands that which You tell me i...

 Looking for good books about history along the trail. I'm re-reading an old favorite, Undaunted Courage, about the Louis and Clark expedition. Fascinating, and I'm eager to walk through that country along the Idaho/Montana border! I've only read one Louis L'Amour novel, oddly enough, it was about a fighter pilot crashing in Siberia during the cold war ( Last of the Breed ), so, not really a western which he is famous for. It was a rip-roaring adventure tale, I liked it very much. But as I discovered on this site , L'Amour is all about New Mexico! Many stories are set there. I'm halfway into one now, Shalako , set in the area of the "bootheel," where the Continental Divide Trail begins. It's nearly impossible to put this book down, and I love his attention to the country and the way it shapes the men who master it (and quickly ends the dreams of those who enter it without full consciousness). The West is not about surface details, like horses, pist...

Walking from Markt Schwaben today on this route. Sitting at a little school bus stop shopping the way: it says "have fun today at school." Nice! I'm carrying about 9 kilos. A man asked me if I was on the E11 long distance path. Sadly, I had to tell him I was only practicing! Listening to "Jnana Yoga" by the excellent Vivekananda.

I've got to be able to blog from a phone, and it can't be too frustrating, or I'm likely to give up and go back to eating pizza in my motel room. Because one thing is certain: few pleasures compete with sleep and hot showers after a week out there with the bugs and rain! Can I insert a picture? Let's see: I did a training hike yesterday around Wasserburg am Inn , and got this picture in the city. A beautiful place, but I couldn't enjoy a cappuccino at an outdoor Cafe because I didn't bring an ID.  That will be one thing I won't miss about Germany, lol...😜

 I'll start April 21st. Why am I doing this? It's hard to say. It is an old dream, though the younger me would be way more excited about it. The older me knows there will be hard days, and frankly, he has many things that entertain him in town. A loving girlfriend, too. Also, he's walked a lot and climbed a lot of mountains. However, who is this "me" anyway? I've seen "me" change completely even in the course of a single day. So some part of this journey must be the search for the me that I like best. During the walk, I expect to find him. The hogtie him and drag him back to civilization. Where, surely, he'll wither away like a lion in a cage! So, yeah...no dragging him back. But I'll see him. I'll think his thoughts for him. And somewhere, somehow, all of this will come together. I expect to know what this is about when I leave this world. But I am patient, because it's pretty damn fun here most days! Photo by  Geran de Klerk  on  Un...