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.
I met my new walking partner, the Indian nature photographer Arati Kumar Rao, at the militarized India-Pakistan border, and we walked almost 15 miles along the Grand Trunk Road to Amritsar. Amritsar is the spiritual capital of the Sikhs.
The road was sweltering and shuddered with traffic. It funneled a sustained explosion of engine noise. The first thing I noticed about India was the sacred cows wandering loose everywhere, and the second thing I noticed was women riding motorbikes. That wasn’t something you saw in Pakistan. The women wore fluttering garments of fire-red and cobalt blue, and they looked like acolytes of pure color bent on some god’s errands. Arati marched without complaint through her blisters on the boiling tarmac. When I offered to carry her pack, she nearly karate-chopped me in the neck.
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
Mr. Singh
Carpenter and farmer, age 55
Who are you?
I’m a woodworker. I make furniture, mostly doors and shelves. Big things. I made a lot of that for the army base across the road.
Where are going?
I’m taking these animals out to eat some grass.
Where are you from?
Right there—do you see that doorway? That’s my place.
A video showing the landscape around this Milestone
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