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.
We hiked the last days together to the Myanmar border—the dear friends who had deepened the 3,000-mile trek across northern India: The walking partners who, by sharing their time, energy, brains and hearts, had shaped the contours of the long India traverse. There was Prem Panicker and Arati Kumar-Rao. There was Arati’s daughter Sanjana Rao and her friend Raina. There was Loveleen Mann, Hormazd Mehta and Siddharth Agarwal. There was—in spirit—Priyanka Borpujari, Bhavita Bhattia, Verinder Singh and Ujjawal Chauhan.
We logged the last Milestone in India as a team. It occurred in a nondescript highway town hemmed by lush rice paddies. Everyone pitched in. Later, it would take me awhile to locate all the assorted elements. Where was the audio recording? Who conducted the interview? In which notebook? And why did the top of Sidd’s head occupy so much of the panorama shot?
It was all a mystery. I think I will be asking myself such questions, searching for such missing things, the remainder of my life.
We walked on. We slogged together up the rain-wet frontier road to Moreh. Somehow, we didn’t get lost.
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
Aish Mani Sharma
Road building contractor, 47
Who are you?
Aish Mani Sharma.
Where do you come from?
Kairarembikhok.
Where are you going?
To Wangjing Bazaar. To the market, to buy medicine.
A video showing the landscape around this Milestone
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