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.
Punjabis were out cutting ripe wheat and pitchforking chaff into huge canvas bins the size of two-story houses. Tractors hauled these giant bags of hay to God knows where. Hundreds of tractors roared past on the tarmac roads. They emitted a cannonade of Bollywood music from speakers lashed to the tractor seats. A rural tableau as timeless as some 500-year-old Mogul painting. Set to the beat of a shuddering, open-air disco.
“Modern civilization is so noisy,” said walking partner Arati Kumar Rao.
“What?”
The first humans we approached for the Milestone interview were two young Punjabi women. Their eyes widened. Without a word they fled into their house. They slammed the door. It was hot and I was sweaty and smelled of pack donkey. We must have looked a fright.
Editor’s note: Because of technical problems at this Milestone, the usual 360-degree panorama photograph is not available.
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
Woman
The first person encountered at this Milestone was a woman who declined to be interviewed.
A video showing the landscape around this Milestone
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