Resources

California Mission Walk Route Guides & Blogs

Several California Mission Walkers have shared their experiences on these websites:

Stephanie’s Walk California’s El Camino Real: walkcaliforniaselcaminoreal.yolasite.com
Robert’s 21 Days on the California Mission Trail
Kurt’s California Missions Trail:  walkpuravida.com
Edie Littlefield Sundby’s The Mission Walker: The Mission Walker
Kevin’s Beginner’s Guide to the California Mission Trail
Lin’s interview on Walking El Camino Real:  discover-central-california.com/walking-el-camino-real
Robert’s The Mission Walk: a California Pilgrimage
Walking El Camino Real de California facebook page: facebook.com/CaminoRealdeCalifornia
Stephanie’s Walk El Camino Real facebook page: facebook.com/pg/walkelcaminoreal
Bill’s Camino Real facebook page:  facebook.com/Bills-Camino-Real

Other Websites about the California Mission Walk

The California Missions Trail Alliance
The California Mission Guide to Walking the California Mission Trail
The Mission Walker page on Wikipedia
Mission Soledad’s 21 missions club:  missionsoledad.com/21-missions-club

Business that Welcome Mission Walkers

There is a growing list of businesses along the El Camino Real that welcome mission walkers! Look for the “Mission Walkers Welcome Here” decal in their windows.
See the full list on our El Camino Real page

Books written by California Mission Walkers

– Ron “Butch” Briery trailblazed the walking route from San Diego to Sonoma in 2011 and wrote the first guidebook, “California Mission Walk ~ The Original Hiker’s Guide to California’s 21 Missions Along El Camino Real”, which most people use today.
– “The Mission Walker” by Edie Littlefield Sundby, published July 2017, chronicles her battle with cancer, her California mission walk, and then her epic Baja California mission walk from Misión Nuestra Señora de Loreto Concho, Baja, Mexico, to San Diego, California, journeying 700 miles in 60 days, in the footsteps of Father Serra and Don Gaspar de Portola.
– James Lutz completed the mission trail walk in 2015 and wrote “El Camino Real de California: A Hiker’s Guide to the California Mission Trail: Mission San Diego to Mission Santa Barbara” in 2015: amazon.com/El-Camino-Real-California-Mission-ebook
– Christian Clifford completed walking the mission trail in June 2020 and wrote the book “Pilgrimage: In Search of the Real California Missions“, January 2021
– Maggie Espinosa completed the California mission walk in 2014 and wrote the book “On a Mission: An 800-mile Walk to Discover California’s El Camino Real”, August 2015
– Jesuit priest Richard H. Roos walked the California mission trail in 1979 and published the book of his religious pilgrimage, “Christwalk”

California Mission Walk Route GPS Maps

– GPS and Google Earth Routes for the California Mission Trail, from One Step Then Another
– Mary’s mission walk GPS maps on Ride With GPS

Bicycling El Camino Real

Sandy Brown’s Saddling up to ride the California Mission Walk video blog of his journey, July – August 2020
Along the King’s Road: A Guide to Touring the California Missions by Bicycle, book by Meredith Cherry, published in 2015
Ride With GPS bicycle route by Meredith Cherry
Touring the California Missions by Bicycle Blog, 2013
In May 1995, Brian Wood and Matt Labovitz bicycled from Mission Buenaventura to Mission San Francisco Asís, sending daily digital updates to elementary school students
On the 200 year bicentennial of the De Anza expedition, Frank Riley bicycled from the border of Mexico to San Francisco, along the mission trail and wrote the 1976 book De Anza’s Trail Today

Other California trails that overlap with El Camino Real

Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail, maintained by the National Park Service,
with an interactive trail map
Camino de Sonoma, a walking route from mission in Sonoma to the Pacific Ocean in Fort Ross
The Santa Cruz Mountains Trail Stewardship maintains several trails in Santa Cruz county
Santa Barbara County Trails Council
California Coastal Trail
The California Hiking Map, shows ALL of the trails in California, including the Mission Trail!
The Old Spanish Trail, from Santa Fe to Los Angeles

El Camino Real in Baja California

Corredor Histórico CAREM A.C. Museum and Library in Tecate, Baja California, Mexico supports the World Heritage project to designate the El Camino Real in both California and Mexico as an UNESCO World Heritage Trail.
Modern explorer Harry Crosby shed light on Baja treasures, San Diego Union Tribune, Aug 19, 2020

Commercial Tour Groups for the El Camino Real

Sandy Brown’s Bike Sonoma to San Diego on California’s El Camino Real — April 10-26, 2021

Other long walkers

Longwalking tips
SF Bay Area Hikers facebook page
John Sears travels all over California on foot with his 3 mules, advocating a walking trail system
Planet Walk, modeled on Dr. John Francis’s worldwide pilgrimage, works to sponsor walks nationally and internationally with the purpose of promoting environmental education and responsibility and a vision of world peace and cooperation
“This is our country. Let’s walk it.” New York Times article by Ken Ilgunas
American Volkssport Association (AVA), a national walking organization
The Great Trail, connected coast to coast 24,000 km across Canada

That other Camino: The Camino de Santiago de Compostela

American Pilgrims on the Camino