While his cohort was putting their heads in books, Fisher Monahan was casting his sights to the west coast in search of adventure, struggle and accomplishment of another kind.
At the age of 19, Monahan deferred his university acceptance and went on a long walk he has called “a journey of inner peace,” his journal being one of his few possessions.
He set out last July from Abbotsford BC on a solo hike ending in San Francisco. In just over four months, Monahan travelled between 2,000 and 2,500 kilometres, mostly by foot, stealth camping in meadows, by a river or on the beach, searching for water along the way, and living in the simplest way possible.
The author of The Sweetgrass Chronicles has published the musings and doodles from the trip in A Walk Across America.
When asked how people react when he tells them he walked to San Francisco, Monahan said he is often asked, what did your parents think?
What did you eat and where did you sleep? Why did you do it?
“It was about me proving to myself thatIcandothisanditgavemea renewed sense of independence,” he said.
Waking up at dawn, living on $25 per week, walking along roadways in the scorching heat on wobbly legs, he proved to himself that he could live very simply and meet the challenge.
He writes that he found what he was looking for “serene moments of bliss, in nature, by myself.”
He said he found that the struggle added a thrill to life, and he has used the experience to set a benchmark for the rest of his days.
When your existence is about sourcing water, figuring out where to sleep and only having access to what you can carry in your backpack, he said, your mindset is very focussed on daily survival, and upon reentering domesticated life you are forced to think long-term and beyond your self.
“It’s a bit of a shock, and an adjustment,” said Monahan, who has returned to his family’s home in Glen Huron and has been freelancing as an illustrator and taking shorter walks in other parts of the world.
“Not having to work at all for anything, it seems so easy,” said Monahan.
Looking back on his walk across America, he said he observed a divide and cultural contrast in the communities he visited that made him appreciate home.
“It made me appreciate where I’m from more. It made me appreciate the Creemore area as a place to come home to,” he said.
As planned, Monahan is off to university in September. He will attend Lakehead, where he will begin a general arts degree.
The official launch of The Sweetgrass Chronicles: A Walk Across America is happening at The Newsstand, at 3 Caroline St. W., from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 13. The book sells for $25 and will also be available online.