robertcdeming

The Place

The trail runs from San Diego to San Francisco, about 800 miles. I experienced the southern section, from San Diego to Santa Barbara, which took 21 days. The southernmost part of the trail is most often along the busy coastal highway. It takes one along the tops of sea-side cliffs and sometimes across vast beaches of yellow sand. The towns along the way are busy with tourists and surfers, and were lively, beautiful, and expensive. We stayed in hotels, all four of us in one room, to make it affordable for all. The second week was in urban Los Angeles, where we spent 8 days on sidewalks, waiting for traffic lights, walking neighborhoods to get away from the traffic and noise. One city turns into the next, until, just in the nick of time, you walk up and over Old Susanna Pass into the Simi Valley. On day 19 we were back at the ocean just south of Ventura. The path north from there ran along a railroad line and sometimes there was relief from the traffic. Much of the way is on paved bike paths separated from the traffic by sturdy steel barriers; other sections are a bike path simply delineated by a white stripe on the pavement, and in less busy places we walked the shoulder along vast fields of lemon and avocado trees, greenhouses full of flowers, artichokes, and cilantro. Laura sought out and walked miles along beaches, while the rest of us spent more time on the cliff-top paths.

The People

Our group of four came together quickly – Laura invited Kenton, who she had met on the Portuguese Camino in 2018. He invited me; we had also met on the Portuguese Camino and again on the European Peace Walk in 2019. Camino walkers can be relied on to know what they are in for and have a positive attitude. Luis, also a Camino veteran, set out solo, only finding out about us at the last minute. California Mission Walkers have a great Facebook page and they have Brigid, who met us in San Diego. The FB page makes coordination easy, and when we reached the Los Angeles area we had the amazing experience of being hosted. We didn’t know what to expect, and Dawn and Steve set the bar pretty high. They picked us up at the end of our first LA day and took use to their home, filled us with food and beer and wine and made places for us to sleep. In the morning they took us back where we had finished the day before. We played pool and told stories and took naps and after four nights were picked up in the same fashion by Kenneth and Karen for more of the same, followed by Tim and Cristy, Kurt and Rose, and finally Debbie. These wonderful people treated us like honored guests.

The Journey

The historic missions are beautiful, none more so than San Juan Capistrano with its old buildings framed by bright flowers and blue sky. They seem more museums than spiritual places to me, but that may be just my experience. If there had been no missions on the way I don’t think it would have mattered. Hour after hour of trudging on pavement and waiting for traffic lights and looking for available bathrooms (few and far between) in the LA area make the walking day hard. We walked between 12 and 16 miles each day and didn’t set a destination until one appeared. We had conversations about our widely varied spiritual beliefs and understandings. Luis, a native of Los Angeles, is not typical of its residents; he is all Basque and no Latino; a man of letters. He interpreted the vast city for us. When I needed distraction from the pavement, I could walk up beside him and say the title of a book or movie, and a long and detailed discussion would begin. Laura guided us with the Gaia mapping app and had more energy and enthusiasm than Kenton and I put together. Her younger son Julien, who overflows with enthusiasm and creative spirit, walked with us for a few days, and her husband Todd met up with the group in Santa Barbara for a week. She explores the edges of human consciousness and spirituality, and I regret not picking her brain more about her view of free will (it seems you will have all the time in the world until it’s over). Kenton marveled at the beauty of the setting, from houses to landscaping and seascapes, the fantastic food, always appearing on the verge of saying, “I’m moving here next week.” We felt like we knew Butch Briery as we used his guide and pored over every word, although we didn’t meet. We did meet Sandy Brown, whose guide will come to define the journey in a few years There is something heroic about through-hiking this trail, which not many have done, and I expect by the final mission near San Francisco the journey would provide its own unique enlightenment. .

What clearly stands out on this trail are the people supporting pilgrims. This would be a difficult journey solo, as there is no pilgrim infrastructure and you will not meet other pilgrims. But the trail has Brigid and Pam and Linda and Dawn and Steve and Tim and Cristy and Kurt and Rose and Kenneth and Karon and Debbie, and they make the California Mission Trail the unique experience it is.

My personal gear included a 38 liter Osprey pack, small enough for carry-on but large enough to hold everything I need for a long trip. I wore a new pair of Oboz Arete low hiking shoes, lightweight and comfortable, designed for pavement, and I never had a blister. I needed a jacket for cool April evenings, shorts for daytime and long pants for evenings, a raincoat just in case, and a broad brimmed hat. I took camping gear but when it became clear we wouldn’t find camping opportunities, I mailed it home. I carried no food and 1 quart of water.

Will I finish this trail? I suspect the trip north of Santa Barbara is different than what I experienced, and would like to see it. However, France looks to be a possibility for September, and I plan to finish the Camino from Moissac to St Jean Pied de Port next (2 weeks). Next spring, Lord willing and the creeks don’t rise, I’ll walk Via Francigena from Canterbury to Rome. Kenton is on the waiting list for John Muir Trail in August. Luis is taking the remainder in sections, beginning next weekend. Laura is always moving forward, relentlessly pursuing her goal of completing the entire trail.

As settlers poured into Texas in the 1850’s and pushed the frontier west, and conflicts with the native peoples became more violent. Far earlier the Spanish had created a chain of presidios (forts), like Presidio de San Antonio de Bexar, established in 1718. The fort was closed in 1836 when Texas gained its independence, and is today managed as a National Historical Site by the National Park Service. The US Army built many forts in Texas, but many are now just piles of rocks.

Some historic forts, however, are partly reconstructed and well interpreted, and are popular historical sites, and it is quite likely you have been to one or more. Fort Davis in far west Texas is such an example, a well restored and interpreted National Historic Site in a spectacular canyon at the edge of the town. Another is Fort Concho in San Angelo, built in 1867.. Others, however, are out of the way and seen by few. One example is Fort Lancaster, pretty much in the middle of nowhere. While the fort itself is little more than a pile of rocks, the Texas State Historical Park has a fabulous museum and visitor center. Let’s take a road trip to visit four historic Texas Hill Country forts which are worth your time.

Set on a lonely, windswept hill 22 miles west of Menard, 42 miles northwest of Junction, or 100 miles west of Fredericksburg, is one such fort.  It is a lonely place, but, oh, it is a beautiful place. Far removed from the frenetic activity of Texas’s cities, Fort McKavett, now called a ghost town by some, is a fort of which much remains.

The US Army built the First Federal Defense Line to protect against depredations from Mexico and Comanche and other tribes. The first forts established were Duncan, Inge, Lincoln, Martin Scott, Croghan, Gates, Graham, and Worth. In June of 1851 new forts were added: Belknap, Phantom Hill, Chadbourne, Mason, Terrett, Clark, and McKavett. Fort McKavett was at first just a camp on a hill along the San Saba River occupied by five companies of the 8^th Regiment of the U S Infantry. The area was deemed unsuitable after six weeks, and the location re-established two miles away near a large spring on a limestone hill. The fort was named after a West Point graduate who had been killed by a cannonball in 1946 during the Battle of Monterrey. Some of the early construction was supervised by Fredericksburg stone mason Edmund Wiegle. Oak and stone and lime for mortar was locally obtained, while cypress for roof shingles came from Kerrville. At various times the fort was home to 250 to 600 soldiers. According to the park’s interpretative guide, “Frontier duty was monotonous, tiresome, and lonely. Soldiers had two main ways of escaping the daily grind: alcohol and desertion.” The men were paid quarterly, and irregularly at that, in silver Mexican Pesos. Charges at the camp store and laundress were paid by the quartermaster first, and what the soldiers received was often spent quickly at a local bar. The fort was abandoned in March, 1859.

The Civil War saw the fort occupied by the 1^st Texas Mounted Rifles in 1861. During the winter of 1861-62, some 40 Federal prisoners were incarcerated at the fort, including some who had, ironically, helped build it. In 1866 a large group of perhaps 250 Comanche or Kickapoo raiders stole over 30,000 head of cattle in the area between the San Saba and Llano River. The fort was reopened and rebuilt in 1868.

During this time the fort was at one time or another home to all 4 regiments of black soldiers, called Buffalo Soldiers by the native people as their dark and curly hair reminded them of a buffalo. One such soldier was Emanuel Stance, who was born in Louisiana in 1843 (I presume he was born an enslaved person but did not find that recorded). On May 20, 1870, Sgt Stance was sent to recover Herman Lehmann and his brother Willie, who had been kidnapped by Apaches near their home in Loyal Valley (between Mason and Fredericksburg). They found the Apaches at Kickapoo Springs, 14 miles north of Fort McKavett. Young Willie was able to escape in the skirmish, but Herman was not; that is a great story for another time (see Nine Years Among the Indians). For his bravery in this skirmish, Sgt Stance was awarded the Medal of Honor, the first black regular soldier to be so honored. His long career included many disciplinary actions, and was found shot dead by a service revolver in Nebraska on Christmas morning, 1887, presumably by one of his Privates.

Fort McKavett was closed for the last time on June 30, 1883. During its life as a fort, 91 soldiers died while in service there. The day after closing, Fort Davis was incorporated as a town. The land was divided up and sold, and the homes were occupied by area residents. The community grew as large as 250 persons on a ranching economy, with sheep, goats, and some cattle, but the Great Depression began a serious decline in population. The Drouth of 1950-1957 was the final blow, and the town was taken over by the State in 1968 and transferred to the Texas Historical Commission in 2008. It now features a visitor center with a museum. There is a modest admission fee and tours can be arranged in advance.

The first known native peoples of the area were called the Jumano, who lived in villages like pueblos, and were traders who bridged the gap between the southwest and east. In the early half of the 18^th century the Lipan Apache became dominant in the area, and then they were challenged by the Comanche moving in from the north. The Comanche were a branch of the Shoshone from Wyoming, and are thought to have been the first Plains tribe to fully incorporate horses into their way of life. They are considered to have been the finest mounted warriors in our history, comparable to any in the world.

The Spanish had entered the area a hundred years earlier, in April of 1757, when Fathers Alonzo de Terreros and Don Diego Ortiz de Parilla arrived in what is now Menard. The army built a fort along the San Saba River while the priests, not wanting to be directly associated with the army, built a mission 3 miles upriver. A year later a group of some 2,000 Comanche and Wichita warriors destroyed the mission and killed the priests. The fort was not attacked, and  eventually rebuilt of stone. It proved hard to support and was evacuated in 1768, then abandoned two years later. Until a few years ago the ruins were accessible by driving down the driving range of the municipal golf course. Now some of the fort’s walls have been reconstructed and there is excellent interpretation of the site, called Presidio San Saba. Signage to the fort is limited, but it can be found along the south side of US 190 two miles west of Menard. The town of Menard is quite small but also boasts a “Historic Ditch Walk” along an irrigation canal built in 1876 and fed by the San Saba River. The area has few services but I can recommend the lunch special ($10) at the Lazy Ladle Restaurant.

All that remains of Fort Mason is a reconstructed officer’s quarters built of stone and wood. The fort was established on July 6, 1851 on Post Oak Hill near Centennial and Comanche Creeks. Albert Sidney Johnston, who fought in the Texas War of Independence, in the Indian Wars with the U.S. Army, and then with the Confederate States of America, was assigned to the fort in the 1850’s. He was killed during the Battle of Shiloh; Jefferson Davis said that the loss of Johnston was the “turning point of their fate.” General Robert E Lee served in the fort during the mid 1850’s, where history recorded that he kept a pet rattlesnake. The fort was closed in 1871. The existent building was rebuilt by local citizens in 1975. The covered porch commands a nice view of Mason, and is a peaceful and quiet place. Mason has a beautiful town square, several notable restaurants, and excellent BBQ served from the pit in the old-fashioned way. Unfortunately, the town’s beautiful courthouse was destroyed by fire in February 2021.

Finally, our tour ends at Fort Martin Scott on the east end of Fredericksburg along US 290. Thousands of people pass by daily; many are visitors excited about the bed and breakfasts, restaurants, and wineries the town has to offer them. Few of them will visit, or even notice this partly-rebuilt fort. The fort is owned by the City and offers a walking trail with interpretative paintings by the Casbeer brothers, some reconstructed buildings, and a taste of what life was like during its short existence. The fort was established in December of 1848 along Barons Creek and adjacent to the new town of Fredericksburg, itself only established in 1846. Construction of the fort brought needed income to residents, who helped in its construction. Its soldiers patrolled the Fredericksburg-San Antonio road. As the frontier moved quickly to the west, the fort was closed in December of 1853. When I visit these places, once bustling with activity and drama, but now solitary places, I take time to sit quietly and listen for voices from the past. I close my eyes and feel the breezes flowing over me, notice the smells and the sounds around, and wonder what stories lie untold in the grass and stones. I listen for ghosts, too; I’ve yet to hear from one, but perhaps, one day.

With the threat of Covid 19 the tourism business has come to a screeching halt. Until two weeks ago my B&B was full every night. I was cleaning and doing laundry and giving advice on wineries and restaurants and Enchanted Rock. So, what am I doing now?

I have a fascinating young guest in the Canoe Barn who is quarantined, but we get to hang out on the back deck, 8 feet apart. Tonight we had nachos and IPAs.

I’m wiping down surfaces in my house daily, I even cleaned my oven (a first). I’m maintaining appropriate distances. And when we did the kayaking shuttle today …

Life is , in fact, better outside.