Separating the Man from the Myth Along California’s Mission Trail
Documentary Film Screening & Conversation
I’ve spent a lifetime telling people to take a hike. Usually that means dirt underfoot, birdsong overhead, and beautiful places at the end of the trail.
Then I did something completely different.
I set out to hike California’s Mission Trail, a new route boosters hope will someday become America’s Camino. Instead of a walk in the wilderness, I endured sidewalks, endless city streets, freeway overpasses, while trekking past Disneyland and across a hundred miles of farmland stretching across the Central Valley.
What was I doing here?
I had become fascinated by Father Junípero Serra and determined I’d follow his footsteps north from Mission San Diego to 20 more missions in an effort to separate the man from the myth.
For more than two hundred years, Serra was California’s most beloved historical figure. Today, he’s among its most controversial. Saint or oppressor? Founding father or colonial interloper? Hero or villain?
Along the way, I discovered a lot more than I bargained for. Yeah, it’s pretty funny watching me navigate a trail unlike any I’ve ever hiked, but something deeper was unfolding along the way. The farther I walked, the more complicated—and fascinating—the story became.
This special event features a screening of my documentary Father Serra and Me, followed by stories from the trail and a conversation about the questions that emerged along the way.
I set out to separate the man from the myth, but mostly I discovered even more myths about Serra. Wandering from mission to mission, I came to realize how deeply embedded he is in the history, culture, and mythology of California—and all of the Americas. Two hundred and fifty years in the grave and he’s still an influencer.
We put him up on a pedestal and then we knocked him down. We romanticized him. We Americanized him. And now we demonize him. Is that a reflection on Father Serra—or on us?
Let’s Talk
I’d love to share these stories with your audience.