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.
Three men in a raft on a river of 200 billion trillion colors: shades outnumbering the stars in the cosmos. Greenish wet cement. Old pearl. Forest moss. Campfire ash. Moonlight. Quicksilver. Which is to say, waters of no identifiable hue at all.
The current sawed its million-year strokes through the Chugach Mountains. Wild shores. Scores of kilometers of cobbled bars and whitewater. The first river-borne Milestone on a global walk.
In the far distance: high pale riverside dunes, bone dust of mountains, made hazy by windblown sands. Bars of gold Tibetan light angling on through.
Ricocheting from bank to bank, we ride atop a long sigh of released glacial melt, down to the cold sea.
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
Bill Romberg
56, natural resource consultant
Who are you?
I’m a father, an Alaskan, and a fellow human traveler on the planet, trying to find understanding and grace as I go.
Where do you come from?
I grew up in Michigan on a vegetable farm and migrated to Alaska in the 90s. I’ve made a living here for the past 35 years.
Where are you going?
I guess I’m trying to reach a life that balances honest good work, adventure, and generating goodness in my community.
A video showing the landscape around this Milestone
To comment, log in using one of the options below. If you don’t have an account, write your comment, enter your name and email address, and select “I’d rather post as a guest.” Paul may respond, so keep an eye out.
