The Long Trail

Six weeks, one ridge line, no shortcuts

Chapter One

The trailhead is always quieter than you expect

No one tells you that the first mile feels like nothing — that the weight of six weeks doesn't arrive until the second day, somewhere past the ridge you can still see the parking lot from.

— Day 9, above the tree line
Chapter Two

Weather doesn't negotiate

Three days of rain taught me more about patience than the previous three decades. You stop checking the sky and start reading it instead.

Some nights the only sound is your own breathing

Chapter Three

The summit is never the point

It's the six weeks of small, unremarkable mornings that you end up missing — not the view, though the view was good too.