Pastor with heavy cross hiked road to Quixotic glory

Pastor Wes Mauch took a road less traveled through Valley Center ten years ago, carrying a 38-pound wooden cross, a well-worn Bible and message all the way to Rancho Santa Fe. He was last seen toting his earthly burden around Carson City, Nevada in 2018. And then…only God knows.

Mauch, 66, walked along the side of Cole Grade Road, wooden cross on his shoulder and all in 2015, “doing what Jesus asked me to do,” he said while vehicular traffic whizzed by as if he were invisible.

When will Mauch stop his Don Quixote-like quest? “When Jesus comes,” he said.

A retired pastor living at Beaumont, Mauch said he had walked through 505 communities and cities accounting for 11,810 miles from June 2010 to this fine day, headed toward Valley Center Road.

Mauch started his daily mission at 10 a.m. He planned to meet with his wife driving a 1993 Buick Century at 5 p.m. They planned to stay overnight at an Escondido motel before he embarked on his walk with the cross across that hidden valley along Del Dios Highway and to the promised land that some call the Ranch, Paseo Delicias to deliver the word to the world of the one percent.

From Rancho Santa Fe, pastor, wife and Buick Century were headed next stop to Ventura for a weekend walk up the coast to Malibu. Mauch estimated he walks with the heavy wood cross 200 miles a month. He was ahead of that pace that month with the VC to RSF segment putting him at just over 160 miles.

Making an impression on the road to glory

Pastor Wes Mauch cuts a lonely figure Valley Center’s Cole Grade Road to glory in 2015/Escondido Grapevine

Valley Center made an impression of sorts for the bearded, grey-haired man whose articulate speech  belied the visual picture he presented on the side of the road.

“It’s a beautiful place,” he said, “but it could be brighter. There is a darkness here because of the casinos. I felt something around the Indian reservations about how they were treated, a bitterness.”

In Mauch’s case, the journey and the word appear to be one. He sees good and bad as he performs the ultimate in physical exercise while spreading the word to all who want to head. People sometimes ask what he’s doing. Sometimes, they’re quite rude.

“We don’t get concerned about anything else, about what people thin,” Mauch said. “Sometimes, people break down and cry, get down on their knees and pray, gang members even. One thousand, one hundred and forty men, women and children have received Jesus, found Jesus in their hearts because of us. ”

Mauch offers a takeaway to those who express interest although he generally keeps on the move. He passes out copies of a 72-page pamphlet called “Living Water: The Gospel of John with notes.” He writes his name and stamps a mailing address inside the copy.

On the road with Pastor Mauch

Mauch was spotted last in 2018 walking the fine line from Minden through Carson City and into Washoe Valley on carrying his trademarked cross, according to the Nevada Appeal.

Mauch said he had been carrying his cross for seven years walking more than 19,000 miles through 880 towns and cities, and leading 1,810 men, women and children with him in prayer. “On June 10, in 2010, Jesus spoke to me,” said Mauch. “He told me to make this cross and carry the cross, so that’s what we’re doing; hallelujah. God doesn’t want restriction or limitation, he told me to go into the streets.”

The cross is the power,” Mauch said. “And with the cross, I speak of Jesus and what he did for us. When I acknowledge and believe the son of God died for me on this cross, then what I’m doing is giving life to the symbol.”

Pastor Wes Mauch of Lake Matthews, Calif. heads north on S. Carson St. in northern Nevada with his cross in March 2018/Nevada Appeal

No longer accompanied by his wife, for whatever reason, Mauch was thankful to be accompanied by Ken Harvey, who drives along while Mauch walks. Harvey is a member of Through the Bars ministry, which he write letters and poems to prison inmates, including his book of poems, “Hourglass.” He currently worships with 38 inmates between about 12 prisons. Inside the Honda, Harvey was equipped with water, snacks — whatever Mauch needed.

“He’s the driver. I couldn’t get anybody to do what Ken does as well as he does it. It could be 118 degrees outside and we’re out there,” said Mauch.

Both men had some amazing stories to tell about their journeys. Harvey said they’ve had a clear path without much hindering. They’ve never run into issue with law enforcement, and even Caltrans has always done an amazing job of clearing the snow for them, considering they’ve made their way through any type of weather mother nature can conjure up for them.

“The worse the conditions, the deeper the impression,” said Harvey.

One of the stories they shared was about when they were walking in Banning, Calif. A gang member, covered in his gang tattoos, pulled over and got out of his car. Right there, in the street with Mauch, he got on his knees and began to weep. His mother then got out of the car and joined them, thankful her son had seen the greatness of God.

Medium is the message

Back to his Valley Center trek, In this case, apologies to the iconoclastic Marshall McLuhan, the medium truly was the message, for the cross was the thing, heavy and larger than life as it rested on Mauch’s strong shoulders.

“People always look at the cross as stationary,” Mauch said, “not mobile. People need to see the cross because it is significant. It represents His voice, his vision. You don’t have the crucifixion, you don’t have the resurrection without the cross.”

And with that, Mauch, who described himself as “I guess you could say, pentecostal,” quoted several verses from Isaiah 5:3, beginning with “And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, between me and my vineyard…”

Followed by a short prayer, pat on the shoulder, and resumption of one man’s road to glory and Rancho Santa Fe.