I hiked the Kumano Kodo with my 79-year-old mum

I hiked the Kumano Kodo with my 79-year-old mum, it was life changing

Journalist Danielle Norton took her mum on our 8-day Kumano Kodo pack-free guided walk in Japan and they both loved it.

Danielle wrote a story about her transformative week for escape.com.au and you can read the full story here but here are some highlights:

 

My mother and I have joined a Life’s An Adventure tour on a pilgrimage visiting the three important shrines of Hayatama, Hong and Nachi. We’re walking in the footsteps of Japanese religious travellers who have been following these rugged paths for 1000 years, seeking healing and a chance at salvation.”

Determined to meditate on every step, I focus on the journey, not the destination, walking beside my mother under gigantic Japanese cedar trees, embracing the pilgrimage. Mum has hiked the only other World Heritage pilgrimage trail, the 800km Camino de Santiago in Spain, so when we finish she will be what’s known as a “dual pilgrim”.

This is one of her bucket-list experiences, and I signed up knowing it was an extraordinary opportunity for us. Mum is 79, and still super-fit, so we had to seize the day.

The Kumano Kodo has many steep sections and knowing when, or whether, to walk them is an art in itself. We are in good hands with Life’s An Adventure. Our local guides, Tim and Kimi, alternate every few days but their level of care does not. They watch us inconspicuously, monitoring our water intake and energy levels.

Nature feels more intense here. When it rains, the leaves of the Kumano forests perform a rich dance through the green palette of a paintbox; bright jade, shimmering emerald, vibrant apple, dark moss, deep olive, silvery sage.

Tinged with red, yellow and burnt orange hints of autumn, the forest is a vivid spectacle for visitors to the Kii Peninsula on Japan’s main island Honshu.

Accommodation on the tour is at Buddhist temples, family-run guesthouses and large hotels, all enchanting settings where we soak in hot springs, eat indulgently and rest. We sleep deeply, on futons or Western-style beds.

Of course, on a 52km hike, there are challenging moments for both Mum and me. Going uphill for hundreds of steps at a time is hard on the quads, and going down steep inclines is similarly hard on the knees, but Mum doesn’t complain. Up every hill, down every cobbled path strewn with twisted tree roots, she tramps onwards.

Kimi-san walks at the head of the group. A bell hangs from her daypack, tinkling to ward off bears as she strides along, walking poles tapping with each step.

We’re ascending the forest trail to find the next oji (shrine). At a place renowned for forest bathing, we all pause and look up. Sunlight peeks though the leafy canopy, and the dappled effect gives the forest a dreamlike quality. It is one of the many magical moments we share on the Unesco Kumano Kodo walking trail.