One of the paradoxes of urban America is that millions of people speak reverently about wilderness but are much less eager to venture into it and risk real bites from actual mosquitoes.
I’ve been musing about this while backpacking with family on the Pacific Northwest Trail, sometimes known as “America’s wildest trail,” on the Canada-U.S. border in Washington State. It’s stunning, mountainous country, right at timberline in the Pasayten Wilderness — yet we have it pretty much to ourselves (along with the bears, lynxes and mountain goats).
Perhaps I’m running away from home, for this is a dispiriting time in America: A former president has not only been indicted four times but may actually also be re-elected, our life expectancy is among the worst in the rich world, and large majorities of adults polled say our country is on the wrong track.
Yet there’s something still spectacularly right about the United States: our wild spaces.
For me, wilderness backpacking is a profoundly healing experience. It restores my soul.
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-- Nicholas Kristof
