Why would anyone want to do that?

Bright Angel Trail, Grand Canyon, circa 1970s. Photo by Wil Passow.

UTAH-ARIZONA BORDER, SEPTEMBER 2022 —

Dad was chatting with his doctor at the end of his oncology appointment. This was around 1998, and there had been several doctors over the four years prior, through his diagnosis of prostate cancer and various treatments. He genuinely respected this guy, he told me. He knew his stuff and was a straight shooter.

“So, what’s the Arizona Trail?” Doc pointed to Dad’s t-shirt. I watched as Dad sat up straighter, smiled, and started talking with his hands. “Well, we’re building a hiking trail across the entire state,” he said, also pointing to his t-shirt with the map of the proposed trail. “From Mexico to Utah, border to border.”

“Hmm,” the doctor nodded politely, thinking. “Why in the world would anyone want to do that?”

Dad let out a large loud laugh. Some things, you know, just can’t be explained.

Building the Arizona Trail

Wil Passow on a maintenance trip along the Arizona Trail in the 1990s. For more info on the Arizona Trail, click here.

The Arizona Trail was the brainchild of a Flagstaff school teacher, Dale Shelwalter (yay, teachers!) who in the 80s walked across the state from Nogales to Utah, trying out the viability of his vision. My Dad, Wil Passow, became a volunteer in the 90s when the Arizona Trail Association came to be. As one of the first trail stewards, he led volunteer expeditions to help build and maintain a section of the trail. I regret I never participated, but at that time I was raising my young family in the Pacific Northwest. I could only watch from a distance.

Scott Pelley of CBS News interviewed Dad on one of his trail maintenance trips back then, also trying to answer that question of why anyone would want to do hard labor on vacation.

I am about try to answer for myself the question dad’s oncologist posed years ago, as I embark on the 800-mile hike this fall. I grew up hiking and backpacking these canyon and desert trails, so I know a little of what to expect — hot days, cold nights, switchbacks, silty water — but I was younger and stronger then, so I am bracing myself for surprises. Now, as I follow the recent reports of folks who have done it, and consult the map, I feel the sting of emotion welling in my chest and throat. That emotion, I believe, is the pull, and that’s the best reason I know of to hike the trail. I feel pulled to do this next pilgrimage that will honor my dad’s legacy, and take me back to my roots.

“We are not actually authoring our lives,” I heard meditation teacher Susan Piver say recently, “we are shepherding them.” Yeah. Part of my life-reinvention journey is to observe and feel the pull, and honor it.

So… here I go!

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