Taylor and Tori’s big walk through Leelanau
From staff reports
In June Taylor Moore, 30, manager of Goodwill Food Rescue, and Tori Craig 31, primary assistant at The Children’s House Montessori school, embarked on a five-day, 120-mile walking journey through Leelanau County. Their big trek was featured in the “Living in Leelanau” podcast, which is produced by 13-year-old Evelyn Martel (Click here for a link to that podcast). In this interview with the Glen Arbor Sun, Taylor and Tori shared the inspiration for their trip, stories and reflections along the way, as well as food and songs that found their way into the journey.
Glen Arbor Sun: What inspired your big walk through Leelanau County, and why did you do it when you did?
Tori and Taylor: Plague Phase, a short film from Crosshatch about our time of ecological decline, sparked our imaginations. The idea was primed by the dissonance we felt during the art performance — the fear and sadness of living in a pandemic, mass extinction, genocide and ecocide, along with the beauty of the art and poetry, the sweetness of the childrens’ performance, and being at home with those we love. Panelist Holly Bird said: “We all live here together. We all have pain in our hearts from what is going on. Whether you left your homeland and came here or were subject to encroachment by those that came. The fact of the matter is that we all live here together. And, that healing needs to take place with all of us.”
The walk was an exercise of belonging. We feel at home here, and we understand that feeling and that proclamation to be like love — in that belonging, living into home, and loving are things to be practiced. How am I to continue to feel at home if I don’t practice belonging? Walking was a way for us to notice the earth, the plants, the animals, our neighbors, and to slow down next to them.
Sun: What was your walking route, and how did you choose it?
Tori and Taylor: We wanted to visit as many friends as possible, take the seasonal roads, and average fewer than 25 miles per day. We left and returned to our front door in Maple City. In between, we walked through Cedar, a stretch of the Leelanau Trail, up the hill to Lake Leelanau, along the length of Eagle Highway toward Northport, all the way to the lighthouse. We walked back through Omena, Peshawbestown, and French Road farm country.
Sun: How did the journey change your relationship to the land, to this county, and your thinking about environmental sustainability and climate change?
Tori and Taylor: It left us imagining new ways of living. A particular moment that sticks out is walking down M-72 and hopping over the guardrails at the bottom of Cedar Valley to get to Jamie and Brenin’s home. Maybe that was the first time a pedestrian has hopped that guardrail. Down below is a beautiful bend in Cedar Creek rich with mosses. These roads are ours. We can decide how to use them and where they go. When we speed by on our daily commutes we miss so much. When we move at the speed that is realistic for our bodies, we notice the beings around us. Changing our time horizons is fundamental to responding to our climate crisis — both slowing down to reconsider how we interact with our home, and thinking forward about our impacts. In this moment we experienced how we could live differently. We can also learn from and support what has been done historically and what is practiced now by our Anishinaabe neighbors of the Three Fires Confederacy of Ojibwe, Ottawa and Potawatomi peoples.
Sun: Can you describe a few particular poignant interactions with, or observations of, plants, trees, crops or wildlife?
Tori and Taylor: From our spring training to our June walk we identified 49 plants. We started calling out their names and tried to memorize their features — Goat’s Beard, Bloodroot, Phlox, Squill. We are city kids who couldn’t tell an Oak from a Beech, so by the end our plant ID skills were 1,000 times better. On North Foxview Dr., just south of Peterson Park, there is a striking Ash tree that is worth a visit.
Sun: Any particular experiences with, or views of water, that stand out on this hike?
Tori and Taylor: Just 10 miles in on 616, Lake Leelanau spread across the sky and we saw the day in front of us. It was a little daunting to know we would end that day’s leg on the other side. Lake Leelanau was an anchor on the last day too — we spent our last morning walking alongside it.
We rounded Omena Bay during a moody afternoon of blisters and arguments about pace. A painter had his easel set up along the road to capture the sun on the water. He lifted our spirits.
Sun: The five-day, 120-mile journey must have been physically arduous. Was it mentally challenging too? How did you overcome those hurdles? And what surprised you about the challenge?
Tori and Taylor: We didn’t intend for the walk to be arduous. We were focused on getting to know the place where we live, and the physical feat itself felt like an afterthought … until we had lubed up our toes with what seemed like a gallon of Vaseline and limped around on angry blisters. Ultimately, we had the simple-but-profound realization that we could commit to something that felt big and follow through together.
Sun: Can you describe some of the experiences along the way that lifted your spirits, and enabled you, both physically and mentally, to walk the next mile or day?
Tori and Taylor: 26 friends walked with us, fed us, or housed us during the trip! The pandemic helped us rethink how we wanted to spend our time off, and building community with our friends who share this place with us felt just as important as walking the peninsula. It was really special to be cared for and to enjoy time in our friends’ homes again.
Sun: Describe the food, the meals you ate along the way—be it meals served by friends or energy bites on the walk.
Tori and Taylor: Christina Barkel shared her strawberry season bounty with fresh cream. John Hoerr sent us on our way with a loaf of seedy homemade rye bread that we ate for breakfast with sardines. Cat Muncey gave us caffeine, cordyceps and some runner’s stroopwaffle magic that had us dancing for five miles. The crew at Telford Farms greeted us with mimosas and an amazing corn-crusted frittata. When it was all over, we cooled our feet in Glen Lake and ate cheesy breadsticks.
Sun: Did you listen to music along the way? Did you sing? What was the soundtrack for this journey?
Tori and Taylor: Bill Withers’ “Use Me” got us up a long hill, and Kate Bush fueled the six-mile stretch along Woolsey Lake Road to the lighthouse that almost beat us.
