Walking the California Missions with Maggie Espinosa : 2BB 056

The Broads interview Maggie Espinosa a woman in her mid -50’s who walked 800 miles to all 21 of the California missions.  She’s an award-winning travel writer, teaches travel writing, a member of the Society of American Travel Writers and former president of the San Diego Press Club.

Broads – Do your feet still hurt?

Maggie – Yes, they do. I have one toe that’s still acting up.

Maggie completed her walk 1 year ago.  She has written a book about it called On a Mission – An 800-mile walk to discover California’s El Camino Real.

She had thought about trekking through California but wasn’t sure where to go. Born and raised outside of Philly, she didn’t come out to California until she was almost 30. She had read about a retired school teacher from Oregon who had walked all the California missions. He was 70+ at the time. If he could do it, so could she. Besides, it would be a fabulous way to learn about California and its history.

Her journey started in San Diego at the Mission Acala going south to north.  Normally this takes about 55 days. Since she was neither hard core or an athlete, she divided the journey into 12 months. She would walk approx. 80 miles each month, come back, work for 3 weeks and then walk again. It took her a total of 10 months.

She invited friends to walk some of it with her and was surprised when they took her up on it. She spent nights in discount hotels, people’s homes and a few deluxe accommodations as a special treat. She doesn’t like camping and felt she needed a good night’s sleep after walking so far.

When she walked from Capistrano Mission to San Gabriel Mission she didn’t have friends along and did it alone.

It was “boring!”

At that point, the scenery wasn’t pretty and it wasn’t particularly interesting.

She picked up reminders of her trek like rocks, a cool cigarette carton from Hong Kong and other items she found on the trail.

The distance between missions, with the exception of Santa Inez to La Purisima, were more than a day apart walking. Besides the 21 California missions, there are estancias and asistencias. Some used to be trading posts or places to hold mass. They still exist although many are in disrepair. Some are being restored and others are have been given other uses.

Maggie wasn’t able to stay directly on the El Camino Real because it’s now a major highway. Because she couldn’t walk on highway 101, she had to cut back and forth from the coast to the inland. That added mileage but also made the walk more interesting. She especially loved walking on the beach.

The farthest mission north is in Sonoma. Not all the California missions were erected sequentially up the coast. Father Junipero Serra built the first 9 missions and then passed away. Others were added between the ones he built.

Some of them are located in affluent communities and are well taken care of. Others have as few as 200 parishioners but are simple and beautiful. The San Antonio Mission is located on an army base called Fort Hunter Liggett. It’s located on grounds that used to belong to William Randolph Hearst (who built Heart’s Castle) Maggie was able to go on the base to see it. It’s one of the few missions that allows you to spend the night in the mission itself but you have to book it well in advance. Maggie didn’t and wasn’t able to stay there.

The weather on the walk was extremely hot, especially in the Central Valley. There are long stretches of road with no infrastructure or water in between. Sometimes it was 96 degrees with no shade. By mile 19 Maggie was crying. She saw skeletons of animals and turkey vultures. Scary!