The Man who never stopped walking

[onwayhome]

He has walked many of the major US trails and well beyond, on an inner and outer quest that's pared life down to essentials. For anyone who has fantasised about their Camino carrying on for ever.....

The man who went on a hike – and never stopped walking

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/03/hiking-walking-nimblewill-nomad-mj-eberhart?

 

[Peter Fransiscus]

Very impressive, thank you for sharing this.
Wish you well,Peter.

 

[ISABEL linares]

MJIBERHART should come to do the Camino, incredible man.

 

[Waka]

What a wonderful interview from a man who has spent so long on his journey.
Thank you for sharing this.

 

[Deleted member 67185]

He has walked many of the major US trails and well beyond, on an inner and outer quest that's pared life down to essentials. For anyone who has fantasised about their Camino carrying on for ever.....

The man who went on a hike – and never stopped walking

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/03/hiking-walking-nimblewill-nomad-mj-eberhart?

Yeah, this guy is a big legend in the thru-hiking community. I've met folks who have met him; wish I had had that good fortune.

 

[Tigger]

He has walked many of the major US trails and well beyond, on an inner and outer quest that's pared life down to essentials. For anyone who has fantasised about their Camino carrying on for ever.....

The man who went on a hike – and never stopped walking

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/03/hiking-walking-nimblewill-nomad-mj-eberhart?

Shaving down one’s pack weight, he said, was a process of sloughing off one’s fears.

Each object a person carries represents a particular fear: of injury, of discomfort, of boredom, of attack. The “last vestige” of fear that even the most minimalist hikers have trouble shedding, he said, was starvation. As a result, most people ended up carrying “way the hell too much food”. He did not even carry so much as an emergency candy bar.

Mine is of being cold.

 

[Kiwi-family]

I am saddened that all the people I have read about who have undertaken epic multi-year adventures leave behind them broken families. Here's another.
I want a close family AND the freedom to walk around the world. With each story I read like this I realise more that I may have to choose one or t'other.

 

[Tigger]

I am saddened that all the people I have read about who have undertaken epic multi-year adventures leave behind them broken families. Here's another.
I want a close family AND the freedom to walk around the world. With each story I read like this I realise more that I may have to choose one or t'other.

Well, walking around the world is solitary AND stage of life dependant. It is a fact of life, that (not even restricted to modern life) that young people need care and guidance, education and a certain degree of permanence to ensure good physical and mental health, that people in the middle of their lives require some means of supporting themselves, and that older people who are retired from the former two options, are freer to choose.
Being a parent, you have both a responsibility to nurture your children when necessary, and then as they grow and become independent, to let them choose for themselves their path in life. This does not necessitate a 'broken' family, just one that recognises the intrinsic stages of life and their diversity.

 

[KinkyOne]

I am saddened that all the people I have read about who have undertaken epic multi-year adventures leave behind them broken families. Here's another.
I want a close family AND the freedom to walk around the world. With each story I read like this I realise more that I may have to choose one or t'other.

Well maybe, just maybe, his family was already broken and that was a partial reason for him to undertake this kind of life? I know that part of my Camino addiction is escapism... That's wrong?

 

[nycwalking]

Wonderful article. I met a Frenchman on the CF in 2014, who walked the camino forwards and backwards, back home to France for a bit, then back on CF.

 

[mspath]

October 2015 while walking towards El Acebo slowly from the distant horizon appeared a figure walking towards me; tall, tanned, wearing a beret and bearing packs on both his chest and back he strode smoothly along. When I said "Hola" he graciously greeted me in several languages and explained that early in summer he had walked from his home in Germany down to Saint Jean Pied de Port and on to Santiago. Now he was walking back towards southern France, Italy and eventually Rome. What an itinerary! What determination!

After a short pause sitting on a rock while sharing a few cookies as well as several camino confidences we shook hands and sincerely wished each other Ultreia and Adieu. Each of us moved towards our different horizons but strangers no more. ...He to continue his long distance way and I to go only a short distance further.

 

[JillGat]

I am saddened that all the people I have read about who have undertaken epic multi-year adventures leave behind them broken families. Here's another.
I want a close family AND the freedom to walk around the world. With each story I read like this I realise more that I may have to choose one or t'other.

My big dilemma is my animals. I love to walk alone and that means my husband has to stay home and take care of my pets, which he doesn't enjoy (or claims not to... last year he used CPR to save my lizard!). I am happily married and have a nice family and friends. However for some reason I only miss my dog when I'm off on a walk.

 

[Bradypus]

My big dilemma is my animals. I love to walk alone and that means my husband has to stay home and take care of my pets, which he doesn't enjoy (or claims not to... last year he used CPR to save my lizard!). I am happily married and have a nice family and friends. However for some reason I only miss my dog when I'm off on a walk.

There was a long 10-year gap in my walking because I adopted a dog from a local rescue centre: a very odd creature with 3 legs and 1 eye (having been shot in the head and neck and then run over). Not very surprising that this had also left him with some behavioural problems. He became very deeply attached to me and very distressed if left alone for any length of time. I loved him dearly but the lack of mobility which he brought was occasionally frustrating for me and my wife. We also kept hens and ducks but have allowed time to reduce their number to 4 very elderly pensioners my neighbours are happy to care for now and again. Slightly more difficult to find carers for the python but he is fairly self-reliant! I love having animals around but I also love long-distance walking. Without the support of family members left behind that is hard to balance. For me walking has won the contest.

 

[JabbaPapa]

There's a part of my own experiences as a long-distance solitary pilgrim that I can really only find in others such as this and other very long-distance hikers, and the occasional chance meeting on the Camino Francès -- though the experiences of this brave gentleman are of course far beyond my own !

Still :

The traffic consisted almost entirely of semi-trailer trucks surging past every 10 seconds at speeds of a 100 miles per hour. He had learned to take shallow breaths through his nose, so as to not inhale their fumes. The sound was meteoric. -- reminds me of a certain section of my pilgrimage to Rome.

In west Texas, the highway stretched in a straight line to a vanishing point on the horizon. Space and time started to play tricks on him. He walked for hours each day and never seemed to progress ... The highway was lined with mileage markers, and he checked each one to convince himself that the numbers were changing. -- reminds me of the out-of-world experience of walking through the forestry in the Landes.

However, a lucky break in the storm allowed him to reach the snowy mountaintop, where he sat in the sun, feeling “the warm presence of a forgiving God”. After reaching the trail’s end, he returned to the south ... and, in a blissful denouement, walked another 178 miles from a town near Miami down to the Florida Keys, where he settled into “a mood of total and absolute, perfect contentment, most near nirvana”. He returned home a different man. --- reminds me of my own conversion experience on the Way.

There's a beauty in the sort of minimalist and "purist" approach to this sort of hiking with a purpose and with little else, including sections both solitary and in company, distant in the Spirit at least from the commercialism and tourism surrounding us. The ongoing development of various Camino infrastructures on the Francès is making it harder and harder for a pilgrim to reach this "zone". The more the world encroaches upon the Camino, the less otherworldly it will become.

 

[Kiwi-family]

Well maybe, just maybe, his family was already broken and that was a partial reason for him to undertake this kind of life? I know that part of my Camino addiction is escapism... That's wrong?

Oh no, not wrong.
I'm just hoping to find a super-long-distance walker with healthy relationships.

 

[Kiwi-family]

Being a parent, you have both a responsibility to nurture your children when necessary, and then as they grow and become independent, to let them choose for themselves their path in life. This does not necessitate a 'broken' family, just one that recognises the intrinsic stages of life and their diversity.

Absolutely agree. Now is not the time for extended walking for me. In the hope that my later life MIGHT include that I have been reading lots of accounts of people who have done something similar. I have yet to find one who has a healthy family life.
Actually, there is one. An English teacher who cycled round the world twice solo.

 

[JabbaPapa]

Oh no, not wrong.
I'm just hoping to find a super-long-distance walker with healthy relationships.

Well, there may potentially be a difference between what's socially healthy and the spiritually healthy.

I'm NOT suggesting that the one might be "better" than the other -- but rather that these deep purposes are complementary.

 

[Tigger]

Absolutely agree. Now is not the time for extended walking for me. In the hope that my later life MIGHT include that I have been reading lots of accounts of people who have done something similar. I have yet to find one who has a healthy family life.
Actually, there is one. An English teacher who cycled round the world twice solo.

Yes, if you look at it dispassionately, feeling the freedom to divest oneself of responsibilities, is both the beauty of the extended walking and its downside. I rabbited on about stages of life previously, and if you look at it, there are really only two where most people can walk in any extended way ( even Caminos) The student in a 'gap ' year (says it all really) and the retired. Even for those with few responsibilities, as others have mentioned, there might be animals companions to care for, very elderly parents to care for, children having babies and needing assistance and a thousand other scenarios
It is very attractive to have this freedom, yet in my mind, you miss out on a lot of other beautiful things in life's journey. Part of the reason we are on here is to celebrate that we have been fortunate enough to have the resources and flexibility in our lives to be able to taste this freedom at all, on Camino, occasionally or for repeat offenders, annually or biennially. You need health, money and time.

 

[Kiwi-family]

Well, there may potentially be a difference between what's socially healthy and the spiritually healthy.

I'm NOT suggesting that the one might be "better" than the other -- but rather that these deep purposes are complementary.

This is very interesting. I would like to ask the question "can one be spiritually healthy if your relationships are broken - would spiritual health not flow over into social situations?" BUT is this verging on breaking the forum rule of not discussing religion? If the mods raise a red flag and anyone Has thoughts on the question, I'd be happy to listen via PM!

 

[JabbaPapa]

This is very interesting. I would like to ask the question "can one be spiritually healthy if your relationships are broken - would spiritual health not flow over into social situations?" BUT is this verging on breaking the forum rule of not discussing religion? If the mods raise a red flag and anyone Has thoughts on the question, I'd be happy to listen via PM!

I don't think this is religious, if kept abstract enough anyway -- spirituality can heal a person in a situation of broken relationships, and relationships can break because others reject the spirituality. Also not all spiritualities are the same, and whilst some lead to the healing of relationships, others can lead you away from them. But yes you're right, any detail discussion of such things would become a religious discussion. There's a line to not cross !!

 

[Tigger]

This is very interesting. I would like to ask the question "can one be spiritually healthy if your relationships are broken - would spiritual health not flow over into social situations?" BUT is this verging on breaking the forum rule of not discussing religion? If the mods raise a red flag and anyone Has thoughts on the question, I'd be happy to listen via PM!

Personally, I think such a discussion might be sailing a little too close to the wind of a 'religious' discussion, even were we to refine our discussion to 'spirituality' and philosophy.

 

[JabbaPapa]

Personally, I think such a discussion might be sailing a little too close to the wind of a 'religious' discussion, even were we to refine our discussion to 'spirituality' and philosophy.

Well I certainly won't be adding any more ... what's been said so far remains sort of relevant to various Camino experiences that people can have, but anything beyond would go too far IMO.

 

[C clearly]

I don't see how this is a religious discussion. Maybe that's because I am not religious. There is still room for discussion.

 

[Tigger]

I don't see how this is a religious discussion. Maybe that's because I am not religious. There is still room for discussion.

LOL. Go for it!

I am not religious either yet having been on the Camino, as have almost all of us..,I/we have the utmost respect for the religious nature of some of the motivations for walking, discussed on this forum. I will go out on a limb and ask 'What relevance has the observation made here

I'm just hoping to find a super-long-distance walker with healthy relationships.

to a general discussion of motivations for walking the Camino and other long distance walks?"

 

[JabbaPapa]

I will go out on a limb and ask 'What relevance has the observation made here to a general discussion of motivations for walking the Camino and other long distance walks?"

Well, there do seem to be some "permanent pilgrims" one can encounter on the Francès or elsewhere who seem to be completely disconnected from life around them. Perhaps these are the sorts of people that c clearly had in mind when he made his comment ?

I don't think that these are typical of ultra-long distance hikers, just that they are more visible to Santiago pilgrims.

Most very long distance "thru-hikers" and pilgrims, in my experience, though they can become a little detached from the more typical experiences and discussion topics that one might encounter on the Camino or on other trails among those walking shorter and more sensible distances, aren't really detached from their home experiences, but are usually wealthy enough people, or younger student types, even though they may be making a temporary sacrifice financially, and do not seek to live on the hiking trails outside of society, but to take a lengthier time away from their normal lives than most other pilgrims would be comfortable with.

Or perhaps more succinctly -- most ultra-long-distance hikers are not tramps.

 

[C clearly]

First we'll need to discuss what constitutes a "healthy relationship."

My husband and I are quite self-sufficient and different. However (or maybe because of that) I would not expect that I could leave him for a year without risking our relationship. That is not to say our relationship would become "unhealthy" but it could be very different.

there do seem to be some "permanent pilgrims" one can encounter on the Francès or elsewhere who seem to be completely disconnected from life around them. Perhaps these are the sorts of people that c clearly had in mind

I don't think it was a comment of mine that you are thinking of.

 

[Bradypus]

My husband and I are quite self-sufficient and different. However (or maybe because of that) I would not expect that I could leave him for a year without risking our relationship. That is not to say our relationship would become "unhealthy" but it could be very different.

My wife left the UK in March for an extended overland journey to and from Thailand, China and Japan. Including the 88 temple pilgrimage circuit on the island of Shikoku. I do not expect to see her again until December at the earliest. I might have a better insight into the question by then

 

[onwayhome]

There are different ways of looking at 'relational'. Walking Caminos has increased my relationship with the amazing and changeable natural world that we are all part of, and deepened my appreciation of what we have in common when life gets stripped down to some level of basics.

Like all good writing the article leaves us to make up our own minds whether he is motivated by fleeing from the pain of difficult relationships or moving towards a blissful union with the divine.

Real life doesn't quite seem as clear cut, so maybe it's some of both? And, as others have said, I believe the fruits of spiritual practice in any of the traditions are a move towards kindness and compassion towards ourselves ,others and the world.

 

[Ralph Keith Redhead]

Yeah, this guy is a big legend in the thru-hiking community. I've met folks who have met him; wish I had had that good fortune.

Davebug - just curious - is your emblem/photo ID to do with a medical/first aid or rescue organisation? Its interesting and looks special. Regards, Keith

 

[Greg Petropoulos]

I've often said to my wife, (who isn't the slightest bit interested in long distance hiking), "If I could only clone myself".

As much as I've enjoyed my solo Caminos, my most significant "take away" is the realization that very little is more important to me than the relationship with my wife, family and friends.

I continue to be aware of this value, and balance it with the activities, like Camino hiking, that additionally bring me joy, and a vivid sense of "aliveness". Most days we're better at this balance, than others. Being imperfect humans is challenging.

Our compromise is this: A Camino hike every other year, seems to work for us.