Hiking the Glenn Highway through Alaska. Published in Asphalt Pilgrims.
Paul Salopek
Every hundred miles Salopek pauses to record the landscape and a person he meets, assembling a global snapshot of humankind. Milestones reflect straight-line distances, but his walked distances are generally much longer. More on these waypoints here.
Every hundred miles Salopek pauses to record the landscape and a person he meets, assembling a global snapshot of humankind. Milestones reflect straight-line distances, but his walked distances are generally much longer. More on these waypoints here.
The Kurdish villages gave way to endless space. To beveled horizons. The vastness of the yellow plain swallowed all sound. Just when you thought your heart would break from the loneliness of it you saw the horses. They ran free across the plain and their hoofbeats were completely silent. And then your heart broke again but this time from the violent beauty of the world.
A wraparound soundscape at this Milestone
This Milestone’s location on a map
Photos of the ground under Paul’s feet and the sky above at this Milestone
A brief question and answer with the first person Paul meets at this Milestone
Hazare Aydin
Retired herder, age about 69
Who are you?
Hazare Aydin is my name.
Where do you come from?
I live here now. (Pașli, Turkey.) We came about thirty years ago from a village near Kagizman. We had to leave there because someone killed somebody.
Where are you going?
All we want is peace. With peace everything is good. With peace you can make progress. War is no good. Nothing good comes of it. Nothing. Nothing.
Observations from social media from the Milestone location
In this region near Kars, Turkey, it is the season of midterm exams. Students tweet about studying and lecture rooms. The 10th of November sees many tweets on the memorial day of Atatürk, dubbed as “Father of the Turks” for his effort founding modern-day Turkey. It’s autumn, and people tweet photos of Kars and cheer for the city sports team. Someone from the army is sharing his photo practicing shooting, and a photo of a lost child who disappeared while playing in front of the house is being retweeted, asking for help in finding her.
A video showing the landscape around this Milestone
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