Author: ashaynes

Every year for the past six years, I have had the opportunity to lead a group on the Camino de Santiago from Portugal to Spain. People participate in this trek for various reasons: to be in nature and enjoy the beauty of the Camino landscape, or for the pure sport of walking in the woods along the Galician Coastline. Some walk with a purpose: perhaps to mourn the loss of a loved one and begin the healing, or to have hours alone with their thoughts to find solutions to problems, or to work out the next step in their journey.

The Boots Were Made for Walking… We were up at the crack of dawn to get ahead of the heat of the day.  The morning greeted us with a gentle breeze and sunny skies.  The extended six-day forecast calls for no rain, low humidity, and temperatures in the 80’s; ideal conditions for hiking the Camino! Yesterday […]

The Journey Begins We are 19 adventurous souls traveling together ranging in age from 17 to 62.  We come from many walks of life, from rural towns and big cities. Some of us are doing this adventure as solo travelers, we have a mother and daughter combination, three married couples and multiple small friend groups. What we all share is a […]

Inca Trail Trek Spring 2019 Great accomplishments generally have their roots in humble beginnings. Today nineteen adventurous individuals from Minnesota, Georgia and Washington State embarked on a trip of a lifetime.  They are in route to the Andes mountains to either hike the famed Inca Trail or to scale a mountain cliff in the Sacred Valley […]

We are 60 kilometers into our trek. Every morning we are up before the sun to beat the heat of the day as we set out on another 20 Kilometer hike. Spirits are high as we complete the third day. We are half way to our destination. Over the course of the next six days […]

Greetings from Pontevedra Spain and the 2018 Portuguese Camino trek to benefit Smile Network! Thank you to all the participants and the donors 30 children will receive life-altering surgeries as a result of the participation of the trekkers and the donors that generously supported their efforts.

We were greeted by a glorious Portuguese sunrise this morning as we began our journey on the Camino. We hiked over 15 kilometers today under partially sunny skies. Thunder and lightning threatened us all day but we stayed ahead of the storm as we walked through the castle towns of Valença, Portugal and Tui, Spain. We completed […]

  We total Ten. Nine outgoing and fast-talking women, and one brave man. We range in age from 47 to 66. We come from Minnesota, Wyoming, Washington and South Carolina. Within the first 24 hours of our arrival into Europe we lost one passport, a brand new Iphone 10, one suitcase, and a pair of […]

A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. Our campsite day three. All have arrived to the destination safely.

Yesterday the trekkers accessed the famed Inca trail under sunny skies and a light breeze, the perfect weather conditions for trekking in the Andes. The four-day forecast called for sunshine and more importantly, no rain. All were emotional and apprehensive as they set out. The started the trek at 7,000 feet and trekked eight miles […]