Meh & Leh’s Misogi
October 6–14, 2024
Meh (Marianne) and Leh (Lisa) walked 124.84 miles from Allegawaho Heritage Memorial Park to Osawatomie, Kansas on the Flint Hills Nature Trail. It was a magical mystery tour of a journey.
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What’s a Misogi? And why do one?
Lisa: In 2023, I read The Comfort Crisis: Embrace Discomfort to Reclaim Your Wild, Happy, Healthy Self by Michael Easter and got a copy for Marianne.
In this book, Easter talks about how in our culture we have elevated comfort above all other values to the detriment of our health and wellbeing. He describes misogi as a Japanese concept with Shinto roots. It’s used in this context as a personal challenge you’re only 50 percent sure you can complete as a way of resetting your life, stretching your boundaries, and enlarging your comfort zone.
I was caring for my ailing mother, who lived in Orange County, California, and watching her deteriorate. Mom spent the last ten years of her life sitting in her chair, doing nothing but watching TV and ruminating on her regrets.
I knew I had to live the last quarter of my life differently. Easter’s book gave me the idea to embark on a challenging, life-changing adventure with one of my dearest friends.
Marianne: Lisa and I have had ourselves some adventures, so my first thought when she asked me to hike over 100 miles on the Flint Hills Trail was YES!
I yearned to return to backpacking new trails. The last time I backpacked was in 2015 and I missed it. And of course, I would do anything she asked me to do! I read The Comfort Crisis too, so I knew the reasons we wanted and needed to do this.
My second thought was, “How will I do that? I’m old and out of shape!”
As we began to plan, doubt continued to creep into my mind. How will we carry everything for 9 days? How will we carry water? What if we get murdered???
About Meh and Leh
Meh (Marianne, left) has worked in the health and fitness industry for more than forty years and calls Overland Park, Kansas, home.
Leh (Lisa, right) is a writer and website designer. She has published four suspense novels under the name LS Hawker. She lives in Littleton, Colorado.
In 1981, I visited my sister in Manhattan, Kansas, where Marianne was attending Kansas State University and I was at the far superior University of Kansas. We’ve never lived in the same town but have been besties for forty-three years.
We gave each other the nicknames Meh and Leh in college when we were riffing one bourbon-soaked night on the idea of someday living in a hut with just straw mats and no modern conveniences, everything made from natural materials, being “just the essence” of who we really are.
This hike brought us closer to realizing that imaginary goal than we ever dreamed possible.
Flint Hills Nature Trail
The Walk of a Lifetime
From kanzatrails.org:
“The Flint Hills Trail stretches for 118 miles across east-central Kansas, from Osawatomie in the east to Herington in the west, and passes through communities including Rantoul, Ottawa, Pomona, Vassar, Osage City, Miller, Admire, Allen, Bushong, and Council Grove. The trail passes through five counties: Miami, Franklin, Osage, Lyon, and Morris.
“As its name suggests, the trail crosses the beautiful Flint Hills. The Flint Hills represent one of the last remaining tallgrass prairie ecosystems in the world. It is home to abundant prairie plant and wildlife species, spectacular views, national historic sites, and a diverse set of recreational areas. The eastern portions of the route travels alongside the Marais Des Cygnes River, between rushing waters and towering bluffs, through rolling farmland and riparian woodlands.
“The Flint Hills Trail is the eighth-longest rail-trail in America, and the longest trail in Kansas. It follows the general route of the Santa Fe National Historic Trail and forms a component of the coast-to-coast American Discovery Trail.
Day by day
The Night Before: Alta Vista
10/5/24
Day One: Allegawaho to Bushong
10/6/24
11.04 trail miles, 14.6 total miles
Camped trailside in Bushong
Day Two: Bushong to Allen
10/7/24
5.97 trail miles, 8.09 total miles
Camped at Basecamp Flint Hills
Day Three: Allen to Miller
10/8/24
11.17 trail miles, 13.63 total miles
Miller United Methodist Church
Day Four: Miller to Osage City
10/9/24
13.32 trail miles, 16.08 total miles
Airbnb, Market Street
Day Five: Osage City to Pomona State Park
10/10/24
16.64 trail miles, 18.34 total miles
Camped at Burning Heart Campground
Day Six: Pomona State Park to Pomona
10/11/24
11.92 trail miles, 13.79 total miles
Camped trailside at South Colorado Road Parking Area
Day Seven: Pomona to Ottawa
10/12/24
11.75 trail miles, 14.02 total miles
Airbnb, Old City Hall
Day Eight: Ottawa to Rantoul
10/13/24
12.31 trail miles, 14.87 total miles
Rantoul City Hall
Last Day: Rantoul to Osawatomie
10/14/24
9.14 trail miles, 11.42 total miles
Marianne went home and Lisa stayed in Hays
wildlife
- Cardinals and bluejays
- Frogs
- 1 snake
- Mosquitos
- Grasshoppers
- Coyotes (heard at night, never seen)
- Deer
- 3 dead armadillos
- A seven-legged Daddy Longlegs who really, really wanted to go with us
- A stump that looked like a fox
FAQ
Click on the yellow crosses to the right to read the sections below
Why did you go east instead of west? Osawatomie is Mile Zero on the Flint Hills Trail.
I consider Kansas my spiritual homeland, so moving east served as a pilgrimage. Marianne kindly indulged me.
As a bonus, the trail’s elevation decreases going east, although it seemed like we were going uphill the whole damn way, pushing 50–90 pounds!
What's with the strollers?
We’re old. I was 62 at the time and Marianne was 64. When I researched people who’d walked all the way across the United States, most of them used strollers. Mine is a double-wide, top-of-the-line Chariot that retailed for $1500. I got it for $90 on Craigslist.
Were you concerned about your safety?
Every night we camped, Marianne said, “Well, we’ll be murdered tonight.” But we weren’t, and in fact, there was never anyone around the trailside camping spots after dark. I felt very safe the whole time. Kansas people, by and large, are decent folks.
Would you do it again?
As our time on the trail drew to a close, both Marianne and I were thinking about just turning right around and walking all the way back. Because of homes and jobs and responsibilities and that sort of thing, we couldn’t. But we immediately began planning our next long-distance hike: the Prairie Spirit Trail.
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