I walked the full 800-mile route of the California Missions last year, and then the abbreviated 225-mile Camino Serra between Sonoma and Carmel last month. So far, very few people are recognized as having completed either walk, I was recognized as the 77th person to complete the full walk and only the 7th to do a dedicated walk of the Camino Serra.
If you are interested in the California Mission Walk, I suggest visiting
https://missionwalk.org for a bit more information, or look up the Facebook group California Mission Walkers. They have produced a guidebook for the route that served my needs very well.
The mission walk is not the same experience as walking one of the European Caminos. First up, unless you are very lucky, you will not encounter and other mission walkers along the way. The notable exception to this is that the group does sponsor some group walks during the course of the year. The group walks may be a single day walk of one stage, a weekend stretch of two stages or there is an annual loner week long walk that is progressing up the route. Even if you are not looking to do the full mission walk, if you are in California you should consider joining the Facebook group as the group walks are fun and a good way to train for the Camino.
The route itself does has some incredibly beautiful stretches while walking along the coast or through the redwoods and even a stage walking across the Golden Gate Bridge. But there are also stages walking the shoulder of the freeway and walking for days on city streets to get through Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area.
As for a place to sleep, some do camp when possible, while I stayed mostly in hotels, which given the area, are more expensive than a comparable hotel on the Camino. There are a few hostels along the route, and even a few group members offering hospitality, but expect to pay more for a bed than you would on the Camino. In order to save some money, I sometimes used transportation after a day’s walk to get to a cheaper accommodation. My 15 days on the Camino Serra cost around $2,000 for hotels alone, though I could have saved some going earlier in the year or using the hostels along the way. Likewise, food will be more expensive with no pilgrims' meals along the way and food in the U.S. being more expensive than Europe.
Unlike the Camino, most mission walkers don’t do a thru hike of the route. They mostly do segments, not necessarily in order. When I walked the full mission walk last year, it took me 2 ½ months to complete the full walk. Part of the time was spent traveling up and down the coast to take advantage of walking with others when possible. With the Camino Serra, I did do it as a walk through that can be done in 15 days, though I added a couple of rest days to avoid spending MemorialDay in Monterey where budget hotels were over $300 a night for the holiday weekend.
There are a few really challenging areas along the route. A major obstacle along the route is Camp Pendleton which requires an escort that has base privileges. Most walkers end up taking transit past this area although I was extremely lucky to find a retire Marine officer to walk through the base with me. A second problem area occurs in the middle of the walk where there is a three or four day stretch with almost no services along the way. For this I was able to team up with another walker and we were able to use two cars to self shuttle the stages. A final problem is that that there are the occasional road closures due to landslides and such.
Looking back on the experience, I really enjoyed both walks despite the above-mentioned problems. It really helped that I was based in California for the full mission walk and was able to use a car during part of the walk. That enabled me to reach cheaper lodging along the way using the car and public transportation. Along the way I met some wonderful people who are now friends and had some great experiences.
I am more than happen to answer any questions you might have about the walks.
