Ten years ago, I led a group of incoming freshmen at Harvard into the wilderness of Maine. We hiked “the Saddlebacks” – three peaks in Southern Maine. For the majority of that trip, I led my group along a rugged but well-traveled trail marked with white blazes. At some point on that trip, my co-leader pointed out that we were on the Appalachian Trail, the most iconic long distance trail in the world that stretched from where we were in Maine all the way to Georgia.
On that day, a seed was planted. Staring out for miles atop Saddleback Mountain, I was awestruck that there were 2185 more miles of that same trail, with countless more beautiful vistas like that one. And at this moment, over a decade later, I lay in my tent, camped on a ridge between Saddleback Junior and Saddleback Mountain. Tomorrow, I go up and over the mountain that started this odd journey all those years ago.
I looked up Saddleback when I was planning this trip. It is over 200 miles from Katahdin. At the time, I doubted I would even make it this far. Yet here I am, a bit bruised and battered, but still excited to keep going.
Trails And Travels 