We have compiled a range of resources to help you build your own pilgrimage. Feel free to explore our recommended curriculum, readings, prayers, music, and hikes. More Creation Care resources are available at episcopalchurch.org/creation-care/resources

 

Curriculum

How can you build a pilgrimage? Dr. Judith Mayotte provides all sorts of discussion questions and activities to enrich your DIY pilgrimages.

The Episcopal Church’s Carbon Tracker: A web-based application that helps individuals, households, congregations, and even dioceses measure their carbon footprint and take steps to shrink it to fit a sustainable life. The app is organized around life choices clustered in five main areas. The choices range from Easy to Hard—everyone will find something here. But there is more here than tech and data. There are links to church-wide creation-themed formation resources, as well as space for online discussion.

Creation Care and StorySharing: Learn to share your story of love for God’s creation and to listen for the stories of others with this Episcopal Creation Care StorySharing resource.

Liturgical Resources for Honoring God in Creation: Explore a host of liturgical resources for honoring God’s creation, from the Episcopal Church’s Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music. Also available in Spanish.

A Life of Grace for the Whole World: A Study Course on the House of Bishops’ Pastoral Teaching on the Environment: As science and politics engage in a never-ending battle over the environment, A Life of Grace re-claims the theology of salvation and redemption for all creation. Using the House of Bishops Pastoral Teaching on the Environment—the first statement on the environment from The Episcopal Church leadership—as a guide, A Life of Grace engages participants in understanding how the call to care for Creation informs and deepens appreciation and love for God and God’s work in Creation, and how that finds expression in the faith life of individuals and churches. The youth section encourages active engagement through viewing of videos, use of technology, and a range of activities.

 

Readings

These verses, stories, articles, and poems can inspire contemplation or discussion during your DIY pilgrimage.

Bible, Collects, and Litanies

Nonfiction

Fiction

Poetry

 

Prayers

These prayers celebrate the beauty of creation and the natural world.

 

Music

For 2020’s DIY Pilgrimages, Ann Strickland suggests: “As we make our own way this summer, finding ways to prayerfully engage with and support our local environment, there are so many musical ways to enliven our experiences. First thing—unplug! Take those earbuds out and listen to the wind and the birds, and the sounds of water and silence around you. Listen deeply. Close your eyes. Take it in and let it inform and inspire you. Then, maybe after many days of deep listening, give these songs a go. Maybe there will be some inspiration there, too. Listen deeply. Ponder the words, and then just get lost in the music.” Ann coordinated music and liturgy for the 2019 Youth Creation Care Pilgrimage and continues to help plan for the pilgrimage in 2021.

 

Hikes

We have provided a few beginner and intermediate hiking trails below that we recommend. These are relatively easy ways to escape into the wilderness. Many more hiking routes are available at Washington Trails Association’s website.

Oyster Dome – Trail guide – The picture-perfect destination hike of Bellingham. A gorgeous hike up to a viewpoint over the bay with climbing routes on the rock face.

  • Region: Bellingham, Whatcom County
  • Distance: 5.0 miles (round trip)
  • Elevation: 1050 feet
  • Parking Pass: Discover Pass

Lake Serene and Bridal Veil Falls – Trail guide – With a towering waterfall and a gorgeous alpine lake, you get a lot of bang for your buck on the Lake Serene and Bridal Veil Falls hike. A little less than 2.5 miles of hiking (and about a half mile of stair climbing) gets you to Bridal Veil. The 1,328 foot waterfall cascades down in four sections.

  • Region: Gold Bar, Snohomish County
  • Distance: 8.2 miles (round trip)
  • Elevation: 2,000 feet
  • Pass Required: Northwest Forest Pass

Guillemot Cove – Trail Guide – Enjoy breathtaking views of the Olympics from a secluded cove with many different types of seabirds and wildlife. Try to keep your feet dry while exploring a series of trails amid the historic 184-acre Guillemot Cove Nature Reserve.

  • Region: Silverdale, Kitsap County
  • Distance: 2.5 miles (round trip)
  • Elevation: 360 feet
  • Pass Required: None

Hurricane Hill – Trail Guide – Whether you need a day hike for the whole family or the perfect trail to round out your first visit to Olympic National Park, Hurricane Hill is the answer. You can even use this trail as the jumpoff (or ending point) to a variety of longer hikes out of the Elwha River Valley.

  • Region: Port Angeles, Clallam County
  • Distance: 3.2 miles (round trip)
  • Elevation: 650 feet
  • Pass Required: National Park Pass

Middle Fork Snoqualmie Trail – Trail guide – This hike features beautiful forest backdropped by jagged mountain peaks. At times the trail is right along the river. Sometimes it climbs high above the water. You can always hear calming sound of rushing water. Because the hike is just an out and back along the river, you can make it as short or long as you want.

  • Region: North Bend, King County
  • Distance: 1–12 miles
  • Elevation: 200–1500 feet
  • Parking Pass: Northwest Forest Pass

Cherry Creek Falls – Trail guide – Located in old logging forest outside of Duvall, the 25-foot, waterfall pours straight down into a lovely pool. Because it mostly follows decommissioned logging roads, the trails are fairly-smooth and the hills are quite gentle.

  • Region: Duvall, King County
  • Distance: 5.0 miles
  • Elevation: 450 feet
  • Parking Pass: None

Evans Creek Preserve – Trail guide – The Evans Creek Preserve is an 179-acre old farmstead off the Redmond-Fall City Road with about two miles of trails creating several loops. These volunteer-built trails run through and skirt a variety of habitats, including wetlands, meadow and forest. The trail is ADA-accessible and perfect for families or for folks out walking their dogs (on a leash).

  • Region: Sammamish, King County
  • Length: 4.2 miles (round trip)
  • Elevation: 325 feet
  • Parking Pass: None

Talapus and Ollalie Lakes – Trail guide – These lakes are two easily accessible parts of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness near Snoqualmie Pass. Two miles of hiking a fairly gentle climb gets you to Talapus Lake. Another 1.25 miles past that gets you to Ollalie.

  • Region: Snoqualmie Pass, King County
  • Distance: 4–6.5 miles
  • Elevation: 1,220 feet
  • Parking Pass: Northwest Forest Pass

Capitol State Forest – Porter Falls – Trail guide – Hike along a gentle grade as it climbs along Porter Creek and crosses it, traveling west on the other side, keeping the road you arrived on in view. As you reach the confluence of Porter Creek and the West Fork of Porter Creek, you also reach the waterfall, your destination.

  • Region: Olympia, Thurston County
  • Distance: 2.2 miles
  • Elevation: 450 feet
  • Parking Pass: Discover Pass
Youth Creation Care Pilgrimage