There is a thread on the Camino forum, here. Kat was a young woman who had hiked more routes than you can count: countless Camino paths, two pilgrimage trails in Japan, the PCT in California, all over the UK, and more. When had I found her blog? Was it before my first Camino, back in ? Or maybe a year later? Whenever it was, it was early-on in my walking adventure days. When I left to walk my own Primitivo in , I remember searching for the spot where she took her photo.
I think I found it, but my photo was full of clouds and gray skies, with none of the rolling hills and glorious sunshine that Kat was able to capture. The pilgrims, the trekkers. But the larger part of the community exists somewhere else, somewhere behind the curtain.
The loss of Kat has rattled me. But she was part of my community. Late last summer, as I was coming off of my walk on the Norte and Kat was just about to start hers, she messaged me, asking for advice. I warned her that the trail might be crowded, and sent the names of some of my favorite albergues. We were all connected- he and Kat, because of their journeys through Japan⦠and Kat and I, because of our blogs⦠and Alan and I, because of the time we overlapped on the Norte. This interconnection, this invisible thread that binds so many of us.
Losing someone from this community is losing a friend. One falls, and it pulls me down a little, causing me to stumble and miss more than a step or two. After I heard the news I left my apartment for a walk. But I decided, instead, that it was time to try something new. I walked down the long path in the sunshine, through a landscape of tidal marsh, the sky so blue, the call of geese shouting overhead.
It was beautiful. It could take me years to write, especially if I also want to be working on other writing projects! There was a post of my favorite photos which I loved putting together , but what about the stories?
