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.
Landfall.
My first Milestone logged on land in the Americas: a subarctic launching point for my stroll south to Tierra del Fuego.
With the ancient migration routes through Siberia blocked these days by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, I’d detoured to North America from Yokohama, Japan, by container ship, disembarking at the obscure port of Prince Rupert, Canada. I hitched a ride from there on a $2-million pleasure boat to Ketchikan, Alaska. And from there, I hopped a commercial flight to Anchorage. Walking abroad for more than a dozen continuous years, with my melatonin levels yo-yoing through accordioned time zones, and my head spinning from unaccustomed speed, I barely made it through the airport. I’d forgotten airports. Bewildered, I left my laptop not once, but twice, at the security checkpoints. And once more on the plane. (OK, and one additional time at an airport bar.)
I asked my good friend Jeanne, an archaeologist living in Anchorage, to suggest a suitable prehistoric migration site near the city, a symbolic place to serve as a starting line from which to begin walking. Beluga Point she said. People had camped there 4,200 years ago. They left behind shards of slate ground into spear points and knives. Nowadays, Beluga Point was a scenic pullout on a busy highway. It looked out over the waters of Turnagain Arm and at gelatinous mudflats where tourists periodically became bogged in quicksand and died.
“Let’s go find someone for the Milestone interview,” I told Phil, my brand-new walking partner. I was expecting him to translate.
He looked at me strangely. “Paul,” he said, “you’re in America.”
Truth be told, I had no idea where I was.
Video contributed by Phil Norris.
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
Grey Doersch
31, a landscaper and entrepreneur from Chugiak, Alaska, and his son.
Who are you?
I’m Grey, like the color. I’m from here. We’re of this earth.
Where do you come from?
Chugiak. It’s just north of Anchorage. I work outside. I’m moving my body all the time. I literally walk for a living. It’s just me and the Lord. I’m here on a break with my family. I’m a firm believer that you put your family before anything. But even before that, the Lord.
Where are you going?
That’s a tough question. It’s not in my control. It’s up to the Lord.
A video showing the landscape around this Milestone
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