PILGRIMAGE UP LONGS PEAK by Jane Wodening

in The Daily Good

I remember driving to the foot of the mountain shortly after dawn and coming to a curve in the road where there was a good view of it, massive, majestic, magnificent. “We’re going to climb THAT?” I thought, “Lord save us.” But there was the parking lot, full, the big sign and the path into the woods. Hundreds, maybe thousands of people climbed it every year. Sort of a Twentieth Century pilgrimage, backpacker-style, a test of strength and nerve in a place where the world can only be admired.

There wasn’t much to speak of below timberline. There as the path, well-trod, the tunnel of trees, there were flowers and birds, and people pleasant, greeting us, quite a few of them coming down in the afternoon as we were going up. We strolled up the path all day. FOR MORE