Joanah Eresechima - My Experience on the Noland Trail

 Last semester, I had the pleasure of walking on the Noland Trail. I had walked on it numerous times before, but I only made it about one mile out of the total 5 miles before turning back. On this expedition specifically, I had spontaneously decided to walk the entire time. The reason why I usually cut my walk short is because I get tired easily and 5 miles of walking sounds like a daunting task to take on. On this particular day, I had wanted to walk around 2 miles because I felt that building up slowly would make it easier to one day tackle the entire trail. However, right when I walked to the 2-mile mark, I felt like I wasn’t finished yet. While it would be another 2 miles to walk back to the beginning, I felt like pushing forward instead through the remaining 3 miles would be the better option. It was hard to explain my reasoning back then but because of what Dr. Redick has talked about in class and in his book American Camino, I think I can say that it was because of all the stress I had been under during that time from school. I know he has said that pilgrimage is often used as a way to heal, and this is done by stepping away from the marketplace reality. While I am definitely not a pilgrim, I can see how that could have applied to my situation. For the last 3 miles of the trail, I was able to take in the new scenery I hadn’t been able to see before on my previous trips and just live in the moment. I can definitely say that experience helps me relax after a couple of hard weeks of school, so I’d say the Noland Trail was like a mini pilgrimage for me.

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