Saint Jacob’s is about thirty minutes from my house by car. Suffice it to say, I’ve never walked there. While at the New Skete Monastery we stayed at their guest house about 3 minutes down the road from the monastery proper. The monastery is built on 500 acres of old growth New York forest, it’s incredible. And connecting all of the buildings, and often just for fun, are trails. 

I got to walk to most of the services by those trails, and I’ve got to say, walking through the forest for fifteen minutes before attending divine liturgy is undeniably the correct way to do that. There aren’t any trails around Saint Jacob’s, but there is a cemetery, so maybe I’ll walk around there a bit. But really I think it was the solitude and the silence, the nature and the distance from others. Which I will have none of, as I will be with Roby or Abby. Which isn’t a bad thing, not at all. 

I’m glad I get to go on a hike most days, and I really ought to read The Way of The Pilgrim