One of my favorite books is
entitled “The Walk” by Richard Paul Evans. It is the first book in a fictional
series about a man who decides to leave home in Seattle, Washington to walk all
the way to Key West, Florida. On his walk he encounters a number of people, life
changing in good and bad ways, walks into countless little towns and diners,
and has no shortage of remarkable stories. I was immediately reminded of Evans’
book when I started reading Bryson’s “A Walk in the Woods.” Bryson’s account of
both the preparation for the walk, the tiresome hours on foot, and the interesting
people he encounters mirrored “The Walk” in many ways. Bryson’s story had me
laughing out loud and also made me think of the times I have felt in over my head
on my own hikes. In contrast to Bryson’s portrayal of hiking and walking as a
more daunting task, part one of Thoreau’s “Walking” made walking sound like an
incredibly peaceful and pleasurable task. It was Thoreau’s portrayal that I
more had in mind when I embarked on my own walk this week.
I decided
to walk on the crosscut canal shared use path in Tempe this week. I had heard
about it from the professor from my outdoor cycling class and he recommended it
as a nice walk. I drove to the start of the path, parked, and started out! As I
was taking a picture of the sign signifying the start of the path a group of
about four guys were getting ready to start a game of disc golf. It turns out
that along this path is a disc golf course, which even has signs stating, “Be aware!
Disc golfers at play!” At the start of the path I crossed over a small bridge
that went over a small creak that continued to meander along the path for most
of my walk. Considering the path is in the city of Tempe it was nice to have
the sounds of the creak to start to drown out the sounds of cars in the
distance. The farther I got from the main road, the more I could focus on the
sounds of the creak and some scattered bird noises. Every once in awhile though
a plane would fly overhead and drown out all other noises. One of the drawbacks
to a path so close to the airport I suppose. I slowly meandered on the path,
and almost stepped on what I thought was a live lizard, but it turns out it was
already dead. Rather gross, but I couldn’t help but wonder whether a biker had
rolled right over it. It made me think of the time I was biking and rolled
right over a snake.
As I
continued on I stopped every now and then to take pictures of the creak and
surrounding brush. I passed a biker who nodded at me as if to say “Hello.” Just
a couple of minutes after the biker passed by a couple of older ladies,
probably in their late fifties, walked past and said hello to me then
immediately went back to whatever conversation they were having. Up ahead I
could see a big building that interrupted the feeling of being in nature. As I
got closer to the building a loud generator began to take over the other
sounds. It was an unwelcome interruption, but it allowed me to focus more on
the Papago Park hills in the distance and to notice that much of the
surrounding bushes and trees seemed to be trampled in many parts. It made the
already dead-looking Arizona desert look even more sad and dead. I started to
climb a steep part of the path and at the top was a big reservoir of some sort
off to my left. A few ducks floated around in the water and the view beyond the
reservoir was beautiful. It was a cloudy day, but the sun was opening up over
part of South Mountain making it a really beautiful scene. Just beyond the
reservoir was a golf course, which added to the beauty with the lush green
grass.
Continuing
on I was now right along the canal and I passed a couple with their dog. The
dog gave a few barks and the woman told the dog to stop barking but neither
said anything to me. I just smiled and sort of nodded at them. I continued on
until I got much closer to the Papago Park mountains, but then turned around
and headed back. I passed the same couple of older ladies coming in the
opposite direction and this time they didn’t say anything to me or acknowledge
me. They were too busy in a conversation about flowers. On the way back toward
my car I passed a couple on a tandem bike and a man dressed in all black on a
mountain bike. All of the bikers just smiled and nodded at me as they quickly
passed. The sound of birds and the faint sound of cars was all I could hear
until I got closer to the generator again. This time is shut off once I was at
the closest point to it. I appreciated the sudden absence of noise and being
able to enjoy the more natural sounds around me. I was just about back to my
car when I passed the group of disc golfers, this time engaged in their game.
Throwing Frisbee-looking objects at a cage-like target. It seemed like they
hadn’t made it very far in the time it had taken me to walk a good distance and
back. I took mental note to come back some time to try my hand at disc golf. Then
I was back to my car and ready to leave.
One of the disc golf targets.
It is not
often I start my day with a walk, but I may consider doing it more. If I do get
outside early in the day it is to go for a jog with headphones in and eyes on
the path directly in front of me. As Thoreau pointed out, walking is a nice way
to experience leisure and freedom and starting my day with a walk was simple
and refreshing.
