LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Reading from a dog-eared travel guide book, Patsy Harkess explains Camino de Santiago, a 40 day, 500-mile trek she had planned for early May.

"The Camino is a rare chance in a busy world for solitude and self-reflection, even for self-reinvention," she said.

For thousands of trekkers from around the world, "El Camino" is a once in a lifetime pilgrimage that can be entered from different points in Europe. Harkess, who turned 80 years old in March, had planned to start her journey in France with a 19-mile walk on day one, over the Pyrenees Mountains into Spain. From there...