HD Thoreau once said of walking, ‘No wealth can buy the requisite leisure, freedom, and independece which are the capital in this profession. It comes only by the grace of God. It requires a direct dispensation from Heaven to become a walker. You must be born into the family of the Walkers.’ ~ Walking, HD Thoreau
- Jack Orrok in 1923
I think there might be some truth there. Either you love it, or you don’t. Either you yearn to be outside in the widerness, walking-sauntering-through the peaceful land, or you don’t. But, then again, his grandmother WAS an Orrok after all. Perhaps it runs in our blood. My grandfather, Jack Orrok, was an avid hiker. He left home every summer, traveling from Dorchester, MA to the White Mountains of NH, to work on the trails. He was born into the family; or perhaps it was just passed down to him…then me.
I’m planning my first hiking trip up Mount Washington [yes, first but not last!]. Twelve weeks from today I’ll be heading back down the mountain, my back aching, my legs sore, my heart full and my soul soaring! I’d love to say that this has been a life-long dream, but I’d be lying. But it has been a dream since hitting 40 🙂
So, as I count down the days and get myself in shape I’m hoping to share even more of my favorite moments with you all!
The chivalric and heroic spirit which once belonged to the Rider seems now to reside in, or perchance to have subsided into, the Walker–not the Knight, but the Walker, Errant. He is a sort of fourth estate, outside the Church and State and People. ~ Thoreau
Trekking The Soul 