The smell of wet earth fills my lungs as I step out into the chilly summer morning here in the Russian River on the northern California coast. The mist has made the ground colors more vivid but everything else is muted in gray. During this particular walk, I am sixteen years old and walking alongside a priest that is part of this campus ministry retreat I am a part of. Our walk is meant to emulate–for lack of a better word–the Walk to Emmaus in the Bible. Its purpose is to invite Jesus into our conversation and walk, and discover spirituality and divinity. This is a Catholic retreat, but I assure you that regardless of your religion or beliefs you too can feel this great presence just leisurely walking and meditation in this ancient forest and surround by all the majesty of these living giants. I don’t remember the words the priest and I are exchanging on our walk, but I can definitely remember the feeling of a greater power surrounding me and connecting me.