The Walk

There were doubts. There were fears. There was the mind grappling with the incomprehensible. Could I walk a long and winding path of approximately 13 miles that rose into the sky 2,600 feet. I was unable to imagine what it would be like. Then I did it. In about nine hours. And now here I am. A little sore, but none the worse for the wear, and in the telling, it seems like nothing. Would I do it again? Probably. I know what to expect, and I know what I need to do to prepare. The path is well known to hikers of the Big Bend National Park. It’s the one that takes you to the South Rim.

I went with two friends. We chose to go up via the Laguna Meadows Trail. There were times when the ascent gave me pause and I wondered if my old body was up to it. But I always chose forward, and soon we found ourselves standing on what felt like the top of the world. We could see Mountains in Mexico, and Santa Elena canyon, and the Mules Ears where we’d hiked two days earlier. We ate lunch, took pictures, admired the views and ourselves.

Then we started down through Boot Canyon, until we got to the Pinnacles trail, and eventually the lodge in the basin. There were enough ups in the downs to make us wonder if we’d ever reach the end. And at one point the rocks of the trail felt like daggers in my feet, and I could swear I was bleeding and had blisters the size of quarters. But in the end my feet were fine, my legs were good, and I had a cold beer at the lodge, and thought, “Damn, I did that.” And now, on any day, when things get hard, I can think back, and tell myself to breath deep, put one foot in front of the other and keep moving, because you walked up a mountain, for real, and it wasn’t easy.

John W. Wilson is the author of The Long Goodbye: A Caregiver's Tale