Day 1: Burke Gilman Trail: Woodinville to Redmond, WA

Day 1 Highlights:

I chose the amazing Burke Gilman Trail to begin my adventure. Funny story...I intended to head to Seattle from Woodinville's Wilmot Gateway Park and ended up going the opposite way to Redmond.  (Be quiet Don...). This part of the trail is called the Sammamish River Trail because it hugs the river of the same name. 

Even though I have been walking for miles many days since I retired in November, I found myself excited and even nervous as I got ready to drive to the Park. I had my phone, a battery to charge my phone (because Strava that tracks my route is a hog), a water bottle with electrolytes, a protein bar (light on the sugar, heavy on the protein), my pepper spray (because of that dog attack a year ago), and my coffee.  I realized as soon as I got out of the car that I had forgotten my headphones.  But you know what?  That was just fine.  I reminded myself that I am doing this “as if” I were doing the Way of St. James, the real Camino de Santiago pilgrimage.  I am doing this to give myself real time to walk, listen, breathe, and let whatever happens happen.  And that is what I did on this first day.

As the pictures below show, it was a perfect pacific northwest late summer day -- cool in the morning with warm sun, beautiful air and the sound of majestic poplar leaves being moved by the gentle wind.  There were others on my Camino, and most were masked, social distancing, smiling, and greeted me with hello or hi, instead of what would have been buen camino.  There were some cyclists who wanted to see if they could come within a hair’s breadth of my ear with no warning before they screamed by in their tight outfits covering thunder thighs.  I normally would have yelled “on my left @##$$-hole!!!!. But today is the first day of my Faux Camino and I am looking for a new approach.

I went further than planned today and may use the extra mileage another day.  I was happy to be back at the car and grateful to the cities of Woodinville and Redmond for providing porta-potties since all the public restrooms were locked.  

That is all I have to say today.  If you want to see what the real Camino would have looked like today, as mentioned in my introductory post, download the Camino de Santiago 360º  app on Apple.  Amazing simulation of what I would have seen if I were there.

Thanks for joining me on Day 1. Tomorrow I will head to Seattle on the Burke Gilman Trail starting from the same Park, pretending that I am travelling from Roncesvalles to Zubiri, Spain - a mere 13.9 miles.  We will meet after that.

Day 1 Map:  Burke Gilman Trail: Woodinville to Redmond, WA